


all at once (everything looks different)

by musicals_musicals



Category: The Prom (2020), The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: (character death is not permanent bc tangled but i'm tagging it just to be on the safe side), Camping, Confident Emma Nolan, Emma is flynn and alyssa is rapunzel, F/F, Falling In Love, Inspired by Tangled (2010), Miscommunication, Near Death Experiences, POV Alternating, Princess Alyssa Greene, Slow Burn, alyssas background is different from rapunzels tho, mrs greene is not on mother gothel's level of bad, nothing brings people together like almost drowning in a cave
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:40:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28741881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicals_musicals/pseuds/musicals_musicals
Summary: The kingdom still held onto their hope that someday a child would be born on the solstice, a child who would live to adulthood and restore the kingdom to a place of happiness and light.Our story takes place 100 years later.----Alyssa is dreaming about leaving her tower. Emma is pulling the most ambitious heist of the century. There's nothing like floating lights and some light blackmail to bring people together.
Relationships: Alyssa Greene & Emma Nolan, Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan, Greg & Emma Nolan (The Prom Musical), Kaylee/Shelby (The Prom Musical), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Mrs. Greene/Angie
Comments: 36
Kudos: 72





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> wow okay welcome to tangled au! this one is going to be a doozy, i already have the entire fic outlined to the best of my abilities, and I only have like 4 chapters done but i think it's already the longest thing i've ever written. i'm not even going to try to commit to a posting schedule right now, it'll be anywhere from a week to a month before the next chapter drops, depending on how much I get done and my level of restraint.
> 
> a big thank you to everyone who helped this fic become a real thing: my wonderful beta reader ellis (ifthebookdoesntsell on ao3) who actually knows how to use punctuation, and everyone in tpd for being a fantastic cheering squad and putting up with me talking about this au for months.

_ This is the story of how I died. _

_ (Don't worry, this is actually a very fun story. And the truth is, it isn't even mine.) _

_ This is the story of Alyssa Greene, and it starts with the sun. _

_ Once upon a time there was a kingdom, hidden high in the mountains. It was said that the kingdom had been blessed by the sun. Each generation was guaranteed to have one child born on the summer solstice; they were destined to be a fair and just ruler who would maintain the peace of the kingdom. People said that the child would have powers unlike anything seen before; some scholars told stories of healing, flight, and even fortune telling, while others argued that it was nothing more than an old maids tale. _

_ For centuries, the same royal family who had first met the sun ruled over the kingdom, a child born on the solstice every 50 years or so.  _

_ No one is exactly sure when the royal family lost their touch. Some say it was when Queen Anabelle died in childbirth along with her second child; others say it was when Prince Charles died in the war before he was even wed.  _

_ The royal family did their best to hide the failings from the rest of the kingdom. It was no longer a public announcement when a new child was born, instead princes and princesses appeared out of nowhere when they reached 16 years of age.  _

_ Without the sun’s blessing the kingdom fell lower into despair. Taxes grew higher and higher, with nothing to show for it on the streets of the kingdom. Meanwhile the royal family’s wealth grew, along with that of the noble families. The previously beautiful and bright neighborhoods fell into disrepair, with people unable to afford repairs, or even afford the houses that they used to own. Jobs became more and more scarce, forcing people into the darkest corners of the kingdom. _

_ Despite everything pushing against them, the townspeople held onto hope. The Summer Solstice Festival was still held every year. The tradition of releasing lanterns, which had formed as a way to celebrate when a child was born on the solstice, evolved into something new. Instead of celebrating a birth, the people were sending a beacon, searching for the next fair ruler to be born.  _

_ Decades went by with no new solstice children; there were whispers on the street:  _

_ “The royal family is finding the children born on the solstice.” _

_ “They refuse to relinquish the power.”  _

_ “Children born on the summer solstice don’t even survive through the winter solstice.”  _

_ “The royal family  _ **_will_ ** _ find them.”  _

_ The kingdom still held onto their hope that someday a child would be born on the solstice, a child who would live to adulthood and restore the kingdom to a place of happiness and light. _

_ Our story takes place 100 years later. _

\------

Alyssa’s favorite place in the tower was the windowsill. She could sit on the edge of the brick, swinging her legs over the open air and watch the horizon line for hours. Her eyes traced the path of a flock of birds while her hands back and forth over her notebook. “What do you want to do today, Pascal?”

Pascal, a small green chameleon who arrived in the tower three years ago in one of her mother’s baskets of apples, gestured out the window to the endless forest and sky. 

“Nice try,” Alyssa teased, pushing him further away from the edge. “I like it in here,” She leaned closer to point at Pascal. “And so do you”

Pascal chirped, unimpressed by Alyssa’s lie. He turned his back on the room behind them and pointed out the window.

“Okay, that’s a little harsh,” Alyssa picked up Pascal and spun around on the windowsill. “It’s not so bad in here.” She walked deeper into the room. Alyssa had been hoping to do some painting, but there wasn’t any empty space left. “Sure, I’m low on painting space, but there are still so many things to do!”

“Hmmph.”

“We could do my chores!” Alyssa grabbed the broom from its spot in the corner, spinning around with a flourish of the broom. She took in the floor, looking for something to sweep. 

The floor was clean enough to eat off of. “Oh wait, we already did that.” Alyssa looked around the room for something else to do. Her eyes locked on the bookshelf on the other side of the tower. “I could read my books again.”

Pascal flicked her in the ear.

“I know I already read them today. A second read won’t hurt!” Alyssa grabbed yarn from the shelf below the books “I could knit!

Pascal gave her a look that very clearly meant  _ we did that already _ .

“Candle making?”

_ Did that. _

“Guitar?”

_ Did that. _

“Puzzles?”

_ Did that. _

“Darts?”

_ Did that. _

“Ballet?”

_ Did that. _

“Sketch?”

_ Did that. _

“Sewing?”

_ Did that. _

Alyssa groaned and collapsed in the closest chair. “Okay. Fine, Pascal. I’m bored. Are you happy now?”

Pascal nodded smugly.

“This isn’t forever,” Alyssa said. “I just have to wait” She was talking as much to herself as to Pascal. She wasn’t just staying in the tower for fun; the world isn’t safe. She needs to stay safe. “Nothing is moving Pascal.” Alyssa sighed. “It’s like I’m just stuck here. I’m almost 18, but I’m still in the same place I’ve always been”

Pascal interrupted Alyssa's pity party with a tug on her ear. She craned her neck to look at him on her shoulder and he pointed across the room.

“What?” It was just the wall, with the fireplace and curtains and some weird decorative wooden thing. “Wait a second…” Alyssa held up her hand and squinted, doing her best to measure the wooden thing from a distance. “It’s perfect!”

Alyssa ran across the room to collect her painting supplies then jumped on the ledge of the fireplace (luckily it was solid stone). The wooden thing was easy to move; Alyssa slid it to the side of the fireplace, revealing a solid 6 feet of open wall. “Now, what should I paint”

Pascal was ready for the question. He lifted up the notebook Alyssa had been holding earlier, still open to the same page. 

_ Reasons I Should Get To See The Floating Lights When I Turn ~~Eit-teen~~ ~~Eite~~ 18 _ the title read. Alyssa started the list when she was 7 and had been adding to it ever since. Decision made, Alyssa grabbed the blue paint, throwing a thick layer of navy on the empty space.

Before long the sky was painted. Yellow and orange circles all floating up from one point. It was an image that Alyssa had memorized over the years. 

_ Hope. _

For the final touch, Alyssa painted a tree on the bottom corner and drew herself on top, watching the lights fly. This was the year. She was going to ask, and she was going to watch the floating lights. Maybe she would even be able to find out where they came from.

\--------

Emma has never been afraid of heights.

There is a certain point when you’ve gotten high enough above the ground, when the wind pulls at you in every direction, and when the clouds feel miles away and close enough to touch, when it feels like you could fall off the edge of the earth and never hit the ground. 

Standing on the roof of the castle, hand wrapped tightly around the peak of a decorative spire, Emma was about to fall. The ground far below, full of citizens going about their lives, Emma spotted a little girl dressed in lime green sneaking away from her parents to snatch an apple from beneath a vendor’s nose and two teenagers holding hands in the awkward way of two people who have been pushed together by what other people want.

Emma leaned out farther, letting the wind blow her hair into her face. A particularly strong gust of wind pushed her hair up and out of her face. It was a beautiful view. The light glinting off the lake, cerulean blue meeting light, moving with the currents and flickering in a unique pattern. Even the forest looked greener from the top of the world. Each tree danced in the wind, occasionally allowing Emma to see inside the leaves, trace the branches that wove in and out.

“Hey, Nolan! Are you done yet?”

Emma took one more second to breathe and admire the view before spinning around to rejoin Kaylee and Shelby. “You know what guys? I want a castle.”

Shelby rolled her eyes and shoved the harness into Emma's hands. “Little early for that. We haven't even stolen anything yet.”

After years of planning, it was finally time to jump.

\-------

“Alyssa! I’m home!” Mrs. Greene called from the ground. “Bring me up!”

“Coming!” Alyssa took a deep breath, this was it. She was going to ask to see the floating lights. She hooked the rope ladder on its hook and dropped it over the edge of the windowsill. Then she picked up Pascal and held him up by her face. “It’s time.” Pascal nodded in response, giving Alyssa a boost of confidence.

Mrs. Greene reached the top of the tower, climbing in through the window sill with a certain grace that Alyssa had never been able to replicate. “Thank you, Alyssa.”

“Welcome home, Mom.” Alyssa said, hands twisting in her dress (It was a nervous tick she had never been able to shake). As much as she wanted to get to the Floating Lights, it would be impolite to open with that, so instead Alyssa swallowed her excitement to start with a safer question. “How was your trip?”

Mrs. Greene waved off the question, hanging up her cloak on the hook by the window. “Oh, you know; it was long”

_ No, actually I don’t know because you never let me go with you _ , Alyssa thought, doing her best to keep her annoyance from showing. 

“Great, fantastic. So, Mom, tomorrow is a very big day–” Alyssa began.

“Oh, Alyssa, I cut my hand on a branch. Could you sing for me?” Mrs. Greene interrupted, holding out her left hand. There was a large cut across the back of her hand, still bleeding sluggishly. 

It wouldn’t hurt to wait a little longer to ask about the lights. Anyway, Mom would be more likely to say yes if Alyssa healed her first. “Of course.” Alyssa took Mrs. Greene’s hand in her own and began to sing.

_ Flower gleam and glow. Let your power shine. _

As Alyssa sang, she began to glow, the gold light radiated outward from her skin, brightest by her heart. The song was an old lullaby that her mother sang to her as a child when her powers would act up out of her control. Alyssa was unsure exactly where the powers came from. After all, none of the characters in her books had powers, and her mother definitely didn’t. 

It was just a her thing. Alyssa had always suspected that her mother knew where the powers came from, but whenever Alyssa asked her she insisted she didn’t know and quickly changed the subject.

_ Make the clock reverse. Bring back what once was mine. _

As soon as Alyssa stopped singing, the glow faded, and the warmth that came with it dissipated. “Okay! So, like I said before tomorrow is a  _ very  _ big day.” Alyssa said, putting as much emphasis on the words as she could. “It’s my birthday!”

Mrs. Greene smiled. “I do know when your birthday is, Alyssa.”

“Yes, well, I’m turning eighteen, which is a pretty special number, and I think it should have a very special present” Alyssa continued, drawing reference from her list. “There’s this thing that I want– that I’ve wanted for a while, and I think this is the year!”

“Alyssa, where is this going?” Mrs. Greene asked. “Do you want some new paints? Or maybe a new sewing machine?”

“Not exactly,” Alyssa took a deep breath. “I want to see the floating lights!”

At that, Mrs. Greene sat up. Attentive for the first time since she got home. “What?” 

“I want you to take me to see the floating lights,” Alyssa repeated. “I promise we could be super safe about it. I would be on my best behavior and listen to you. I just really, really want to see them up close.”

“We can’t.” Mrs. Greene shook her head. “It’s not safe; there is nothing I could do that would make it safe.”

“Please, Mom,” Alyssa had been expecting an instant rejection, but it still hurt. Luckily, she was ready for it and had spent days crafting her list of reasons. “It’s the only thing I want for my birthday, all of my birthdays! If we do this, then you never have to get me anything else ever again. I just  _ need _ to see them. The lights appear every year on my birthday, only on my birthday, and I know it's insane, but I can’t help but feel like they’re meant for me. I need to see them.”

“You can see them from your window here without putting yourself in danger.” Mrs. Greene argued. “It’s not worth the extra risk.”

“It’s not the same to see them from my window. I need to be there, up close. I want to know what they are.” Alyssa begged. She couldn’t spend another year at the window, wishing and dreaming. She needed to see them for real.

“Alyssa, stop,” Mrs. Greene said firmly. “It is not safe; it will never be safe. The second you step out of this tower someone is going to want to hurt you. There are people out there; bad people who want to take you away and never let you see the sun. The people out there? They might as well be monsters with fangs and claws. You can never leave. I won’t let you get hurt like that.” Mrs. Greene gripped Alyssa by the shoulders, desperately searching her eyes. “I need you to understand.”

Alyssa bit her lip, looking between her mother and the open window. The floating lights were her dream, but also Mom knows what she’s talking about. It would be foolish to put herself in danger for something she can easily see from her windowsill. 

“I understand.”


	2. the tower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Is this… a crown?”
> 
> Pascal squinted at her for a few seconds before shaking his head.
> 
> “Pascal, it’s clearly a crown” Alyssa laughed and waved at her head. “Doesn’t it look right?” He shook his head again and Alyssa rolled her eyes, taking the crown off and putting it safely back in the bag. “That still doesn’t explain– oh my god I forgot about the person,” Alyssa realized, looking down to where Glasses was thankfully still unconscious. “We need to do something with that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the start of this chapter might look a little familiar if you read the oneshot i posted for au day of dwu week, but please don't just skip this chapter!! some stuff has changed and this chapter goes past the end of the oneshot so you will miss actual plot if you skip it. as usual shout out to ellis for being the best beta reader and for listening to my rambling about this au!!

Emma leaned over the skylight, taking in the throne room, empty except for a line of guards facing the doorway. She nodded at Shelby a few windows over, and the other woman carefully began unsealing the pane of glass, lifting it up and out when she was done. 

“Are we sure Nolan should be the grab team?” Kaylee complained for the millionth time. Emma kind of hated her, but she and Shelby were the only thieves willing to go for the crown, and Emma’s plan required 3 people.

“It’s my gear and my plan,” Emma said, brushing past Kaylee to begin setting up the pulley system. While playing the long game for 5 years, the crown has always been Emma’s end goal, and she’s run this plan so many times she could probably do it in her sleep. “Remember, don’t let me drop too far. If I touch the ground an alarm will go off, making this one hundred times more complicated.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Shelby waved off Emma’s reminder. “We know the drill."

“And as soon as we pull you back up, we make our getaway and split the cash from the crown,” Kaylee reminded, fixing Emma with a hard glare. 

“Of course,” Emma lied. As if she would ever sell the one item capable of putting someone competent in charge. “Guard change should be finishing up any second now...”

Shelby hooked the rope to Emma’s harness and handed her the tool belt that they put together for this exact purpose. “Ready…”

They all held their breath as the final guard took their place and the door to the throne room locked with a click. “Go.”

Emma jumped through the skylight that Shelby had removed, holding onto the rope to keep herself steady. The sight of the glass box drawing closer and closer, made Emma feel alive. She was so close, a few more feet and the most valuable item in the kingdom would be within reach.

_Achoo!_

Emma froze and above her Kaylee and Shelby quickly followed suit, leaving her hanging in between the floor and the ceiling. The guard sneezed a few more times, and the other guards turned to look at him. 

_Was this it? Is her master plan really foiled by some dust?_

Emma held her breath, silently begging the guards not to notice her. The universe must’ve been on her side as none of the guards raised the alarm; they simply turned back to watching the door. Emma waited a few more seconds before gesturing for Kaylee and Shelby to continue.

The case was finally in reach. Emma grabbed the same tool Shelby had used on the skylight and carefully disconnected the top layer of glass. The crown was heavier than she was expecting, large gemstones designed in the shape of a sun with delicately braided gold. Emma dropped it in her satchel and put the glass back, giving Shelby the cue to pull her back up.

She rose slowly above the throne room, the pulley that she spent hours oiling and adjusting did its job, spinning silently despite supporting Emma’s weight. 

Emma was halfway to the skylight when a screwdriver that hadn’t been put away correctly, fell from her tool belt. She watched in slow motion as it approached the ground, shattering the glass and landing with a clatter where the crown used to be. Kaylee and Shelby began pulling her up faster, but it was too late.

Within seconds one of the guards was pulling the alarm, and they were flocking to the ground below Emma.

“Stop!” One of the guards reached up with her spear but Emma was already too far above them.

Emma waved down at the guards. “You might want to look for a new job!” She pulled herself up and back onto the roof, unhooking her harness from the rope. She didn't bother to take the harness off before breaking into a sprint, climbing down the side of the castle and disappearing into the crowd.

_Step 2: Lose the guards in the city._

It wasn’t the most logical method– after all the longer they stayed near the castles the more guards would be in play, and they could just as easily lose the guards in the forest– but Emma knew these streets, and, more importantly, Kaylee and Shelby did not. She could hear them falling farther and farther behind thanks to Emma turning randomly into alleyways and jumping fences. Unfortunately, right as she was about to lose them a guard popped up in front of them, forcing Emma to turn into what was basically a dead end thanks to a high wall at the end of the alley.

“You could’ve waited for us,” Kaylee complained, getting to the wall a few seconds after Emma.

“It’s not my fault you can’t keep up. This was part of the plan,” Emma responded, the last thing she needed was Kaylee and Shelby getting suspicious when she was so close. The dead end offered an opportunity, one that Emma would be foolish to pass up.

“What are we going to do now?” Shelby jumped for the top of the wall, but her hand didn’t even come close.

“We need to work fast. You two can boost me up, then I’ll pull you over”

“Give us the satchel first” Kaylee held out her hand. Emma instinctually tightened her hold on the worn strap. Kaylee’s eyes caught the movement so Emma forced herself to loosen her hold, casually holding out the bag and waving it around.

“Really? After all this you still don’t trust me?”

“Give us the bag, Nolan, then we’ll boost you over” Shelby repeated, standing shoulder to shoulder with Kaylee.

Fine, Emma could work with this. “Sheesh– well if you insist”

Kaylee took the bag, squinting at Emma for another few seconds, “Okay, Shelby can I get on your shoulders?”

Kaylee attached the bag to her belt to free up her hands to climb on Shelby’s shoulders, putting her head within a few feet of the top of the wall, while still being out of reach. Once it was her turn Emma carefully climbed both of them to the top of the wall, slipping the bag out of Kaylee’s belt loops, channeling her many years of living off pickpocketing. The wall was about a foot wide, allowing Emma to sit comfortably on top. The guards were getting closer; the first had just turned down the alleyway

“Okay, now pull us up, Nolan. Quick.”

“Hmm, I don’t think I will.” Emma grinned down at Kaylee and held up the bag, causing the other woman to reach desperately for her belt only to find it empty.

“You don’t want us as enemies,” Shelby threatened, trying to stand up straight enough to lift Kaylee high enough to grab the top of the wall. 

“I think I’ll risk it.” Emma spun around and slid off the other side of the wall, landing without injury since the ground was way closer. It dropped her right on the edge of the city, making it easy for her to sprint the remaining ground to the forest. Kaylee and Shelby would be fine once the guards didn’t realize they had anything of value. 

Stepping into the forest was like a breath of fresh air, the vegetation muting sound in a way the stone walls of the city do not. The path is familiar, she spent months plotting it based off of an old one from when she was a kid (she then spent another month plotting a separate trail to give Kaylee and Shelby). Emma didn’t slow until the sounds of the city were far behind her, at which point she switched from a sprint to something closer to a jog. All of the guards were there chasing her in the city, so she had a lead; she just had to keep up a steady pace for long enough to get to a safe location.

“Stop in the name of the King and Queen!”

_Fuck._ Emma slowly spun around, hands resting on top of her head. There was a guard on a horse standing not 20 feet to her right. This was bad. She planned this out, the only way for this guard to have caught her is if he knew where she was going to be. 

The guard jumped off his horse and approached her, handcuffs held at his side. The closer he got, the more familiar he looked. “Wait a minute, Greg?”

“Long time no see, Em.” Her cousin at least had the decency to look a little sheepish. It was almost funny, except for the fact that he was destroying her carefully crafted plan. “A shame we had to meet this way.”

“You’re working for them?” Emma asked, circling Greg, refusing to let him get too close. “How could you do that?”

“They’re the king and queen, Em,” Greg had the audacity to sound confused. “Why would I not work for them? You know I always wanted to do something good for the world; once upon a time you did too.”

_Ouch._

“I am doing something good for the world!” Though she knew it shouldn’t be a surprise that Greg, who Emma assumes never left home and the noble status that came with it, didn’t think she was doing the right thing, it still hurt. They spent plenty of time conspiring as children about the legitimacy of the king and queen, but Greg never got a front row seat to the suffering in the same way Emma did, probably falling victim to the extensive propaganda that the ruling class was so fond of.

“Yeah, right,” Greg scoffed. “The kingdom will fall apart without that crown! It will call into question the legitimacy of the royal family.”

“Yeah, I know.” Emma smiled softly at Greg. “Unfortunately I don’t have time to explain why that’s a good thing”

“What’s that supposed to–” Greg yelped as he fell to the ground. Emma smoothly shot to her feet after kicking out Greg's legs, tossing a small rock at his horse’s flank so that it ran off back towards the kingdom.

“Sorry, Greg.” As she ran away Emma could hear him stumble off the ground, choosing to chase her on foot instead of going after the horse. _That’s not great._ While it was a trail Emma knew by heart, that wasn’t an advantage with Greg. He spent just as much time on the trail as Emma did, it was where they would play when they were children. Emma considered her options carefully, she wasn’t going to throw away her plan on a whim. The trail was easily the safer option, but Greg was faster than her and didn’t have any problem navigating the curving trail.

She decided to risk going off trail, taking a sharp left turn in between two trees and diving through the bush that appeared in front of her. Greg finally fell behind a little, caught in the bush, but it wasn’t enough. Emma needed him _far_ away. She picked her way through the forest, taking every twist and turn she could find. 

The foliage began to increase, signaling that she was approaching the edge of the forest. Emma sped up, sprinting as hard as she could to get out of the trees. She was so focused on the light of the clearing that she didn’t notice a root sticking out of the ground right in her path. Emma’s foot caught the root and she fell, effectively sending the satchel flying over the edge of the cliff that apparently bordered the forest. She held her breath as the satchel fell, letting out a sigh of relief when it caught on a tree that was growing out over the cliff. 

Emma jumped to her feet and within seconds Greg was bursting out of the tree line next to her. He took stock of the situation, Emma crouching on the ground and the satchel dangling over the edge of the cliff. For just a second they locked eyes in an unsaid challenge, just like when they were kids who would race back home after a day at the market.

Emma could almost pretend nothing had changed, that they were still best friends, but then Greg’s face darkened. When he moved Emma was ready, sprinting alongside him towards the cliff. He was drifting ahead of her, so Emma reached out and grabbed the back of Greg’s shirt, pulling him to the ground. 

In retaliation, he grabbed her pant leg, and her chin hit the ground for the second time in the clearing. They both wrestled their way to the tree, trying to beat the other person to the satchel. Emma crawled out koala style on the underside of the tree while Greg did his best to knock her feet off from the top. Emma finally got to the branch, victoriously grabbing the satchel before Greg, despite having no way off the tree.

_CRACK._

The trunk of the tree splintered at the stump, the weight of two people too much for the bare roots clinging to the cliffside. Emma desperately held onto her end of the tree while it fell and could see Greg on the other end doing the same. There was a rock sticking out of the cliffside right before the ground started to flatten out. The center of the tree hit it, effectively absorbing the impact and sending Emma and Greg down in different directions. Emma did her best to keep her feet under her, sliding down the hill and rolling once she hit the grass at the bottom. 

By some miracle she was able to stand up, uninjured, with the satchel (and crown) still in her hands. Her pants were a little destroyed, but that hopefully wouldn’t be too much of a problem now that she’d lost Greg. Her surroundings were unfamiliar despite having spent the majority of her life in the forest, but she could faintly hear the sound of a waterfall, which was probably connected to the river that ran through the kingdom, so as soon as she found it she could follow it back to familiar territory. 

She started walking towards the sound, keeping her steps quiet in case Greg was closer than she realized. She got so distracted looking for him that she nearly ran straight into a rock. She attempted to go around it, only to find that it was part of a wall, stretching out to both sides. It was way too tall to climb, so Emma decided to walk alongside the wall away from the direction Greg went. It would end eventually, then she could go past it to the river.

She dragged her hand along the rock wall, letting her mind wander. When a particularly large rock popped up in front of her Emma decided to just go over it, making her way to the top then jumping down four feet to the ground. Her foot caught on something when she landed so she went to steady herself on the vine covered wall at the bottom, but her hand went straight through it, sending her tumbling to the ground in a dark cave with a light at the other end.

“Huh, weird,” Emma muttered. 

She squinted at the light on the other side; it appeared to be an opening, probably to the other side of the wall. Maybe she could come back to explore after she got the crown to a safe place. She got all the way back to the vine cover and was reaching for it when her brain finally registered that something was wrong. She could hear footsteps outside the vines. Greg muttered something under his breath and Emma froze. She wasn’t going back that way. Maybe she _was_ going to explore the other end of the weird ass tunnel. 

Hopefully, it would have somewhere for her to hide and wait out Greg.

Stepping out of the tunnel on the other end felt like stepping into a new world. The clearing was backed by tall cliffs with a waterfall (probably the water that she heard earlier). The wall that she had been following went around the entire clearing, meeting with the edges of the cliffs on either side. Someone clearly wanted to keep this place hidden. 

In the center of the clearing there was a tall tower with a single window at the very top. It was nice; someone was clearly maintaining it. Emma slowly approached the tower, circling the base to try and find a door. 

“There’s no door,” Emma muttered to herself. It was just getting weirder and weirder.

Emma looked up at the window, probably about two stories above. She still needed a place to hide and wait out Greg, and unless she wanted to play ring around the rosy at the base of the tower, she needed to find a way up. She looked at the tower in a new light, trying to figure out the best way to climb it. There were bricks sticking out here and there, not very different from the wall she used to scale outside her bedroom window when she was a kid.

Emma jumped to grab the nearest brick and began climbing. It definitely wasn’t an ideal situation; the tower clearly wasn’t made with climbing in mind, so there wasn’t always a good handhold. After what felt like hours of climbing, she reached the window sill, grabbing the bottom edge and using it to pull herself through. She had just enough time to take in a couch and walls covered in paintings before something hard came down on the back of her head, knocking her unconscious.

\---------

Alyssa held the frying pan out from her chest, pointing it at the woman who had just come through the window. It was the first thing she could find when she heard someone climbing the tower, and, while unconventional, it had worked well enough to knock the woman unconscious before she could attack. Even though the woman was thoroughly unconscious and face down Alyssa couldn’t tear her eyes away from her. She appeared to be about Alyssa’s age with chin length blonde hair, lighter than her mom’s, and glasses. Her pants were covered in dirt and she was wearing a blue vest over a white shirt with an old brown satchel in hand. Alyssa nudged her lip up with the edge of the frying pan, but she didn’t appear to have any form of fangs, and her hands were free of claws. Nothing indicated a name, so Alyssa decided to call her Glasses until she was told differently.

She reached down and picked up the satchel, letting Glasses’ hand flop onto the ground. She exchanged a look with Pascal, who shrugged and climbed onto the back of the chair next to Alyssa. She flipped open the top of the bag to find some kind of jewelry sitting in the bottom of the bag. 

“What on earth…” Alyssa lifted it out and into the sun so she could examine it more closely. Its base seemed to be a rigid ring of golden wire, made up of three or four wires that were all braided together. On the front, there were multiple large clear gemstones, held by more wire in the shape of what was probably supposed to be a sun, surrounded by smaller pink and white gemstones that connected it to the ring. It was an odd thing for an assassin/kidnapper/evildoer to be carrying. It would make a pretty crappy weapon, and Alyssa couldn’t imagine how it would help someone navigate the forest. She held it out for Pascal to see. “What do you think?”

Pascal examined the ring then mimed putting it on his wrist.

Alyssa followed his instruction, putting the ring on her left arm and examining it. That made more sense than using it as a weapon, but still didn’t feel right. For one thing it was way too big, there was no way it would stay on and it didn’t look good when Alyssa looked in the mirror. “A good suggestion, but no.”

Pascal tilted his head then gestured around his neck.

“A necklace?” Alyssa flipped over the ring so that the sun was pointing down and attempted to put it around her neck, only for the tip of the sun to poke her in the nose. “It doesn’t fit” Alyssa sighed, she flipped it over to try again but it was still too small to fit over her head. She went to turn back to Pascal, but her eyes got caught in the mirror. Rested on her head with the sun pointing up, it looked right in a way that it hadn’t before. “Is this… a crown?”

Pascal squinted at her for a few seconds before shaking his head.

“Pascal, it’s clearly a crown” Alyssa laughed and waved at her head. “Doesn’t it look right?” He shook his head again and Alyssa rolled her eyes, taking the crown off and putting it safely back in the bag. “That still doesn’t explain– oh my god I forgot about the person,” Alyssa realized, looking down to where Glasses was thankfully still unconscious. “We need to do something with that.”

Pascal chirped to get Alyssa’s attention before pointing at the large closet next to her dresser.

“Good idea,” Alyssa agreed, opening the doors and sizing up Glasses on the ground. “I think she’ll fit.”

On the way back to the window and the unconscious body Alyssa grabbed the satchel and dropped it in a vase sitting by the wall. Unfortunately, moving a person by herself was much harder than Alyssa had expected; she pulled Glasses on to her feet, only for her to immediately fall back onto the ground. Alyssa did eventually get her standing, only to realize that the closet was elevated off the ground, so she not only had to get Glasses across the room, but also up half a foot off the ground. “I can do this.”

Fifth time's the charm. When Glasses was finally all the way in the closet and not upside down Alyssa declared it good enough and quickly slammed the closet doors shut. “I have a person in my closet,” Alyssa said, testing out the words. “There is a person. _In_ _my closet_. Did you see me, Pascal? I eliminated the threat! I can take care of myself!” Alyssa paused mid celebration. “Oh my god I need to tell Mom! This will show her that I can take care of myself. That I can handle a little danger!”

“Alyssa, I’m home!” 

_Right on time._

“One second!” Alyssa took one final look around the room for anything else that might’ve been out of place, but with Glasses in the closet and the satchel in the vase on the ground the room looked exactly as it had when Mrs. Greene left. She dropped the rope ladder out the window and shifted back and forth while she waited for Mrs. Greene to finish climbing up.

“I have a birthday surprise,” Mrs. Greene announced as soon as she was through the window. “I’m going to make hazelnut soup for dinner! I know it’s your favorite.”

“I actually have my own surprise,” Alyssa said, taking the bag from Mrs. Greene and beginning to unpack the ingredients. “I wanted to tell you–”

“Is this about the floating lights again?” Mrs. Greene sighed. “I know you want to see them, but it’s not safe.” She sounded tired, and, all at once, Alyssa felt a little bad about how stressful the topic of leaving the tower was to her mother.

Alyssa looked at the brick beneath her feet, tracing the line between bricks with her toe. “Well, it’s kind of about the floating lights but–”

“Alyssa, I really don’t want to talk about this,” Mrs. Greene interrupted, taking the wild parsnips Alyssa had just unpacked and putting them in the bowl on the counter.

“I know you think I’m not strong enough to handle going outside,” Alyssa said, standing up straighter. “But I can handle myself.”

Mrs. Greene sighed “Alyssa, it's not that I think you aren’t strong–”

“Then what is it?” The words burst out louder than they were supposed to, but Alyssa couldn’t take them back.

“It’s not safe–”

“If you just trust me!”

“It’s never going to be safe–”

“I know we could do it!”

_“ALYSSA!”_ Mrs. Greene shouted, cutting off the argument “Stop. Just… stop. You can never leave this tower.”

Alyssa sighed; nothing was working. She had exhausted every point on her list; all that was left was to tell her mom about the person in the closet and say goodbye to her dream forever.

_What if you just don’t tell her?_ Alyssa couldn’t do that. It would be dumb to keep something that important away from her mother… Except Glasses probably knew about the floating lights, maybe she could take Alyssa to see them. The crown was probably pretty valuable; she was sure Glasses would want it back as soon as possible. With a new plan in mind, Alyssa just needed to get her mom out of the tower; hopefully she would never even know Alyssa left.

“You’re right,” Alyssa said, breaking the silence. “It was a dumb idea, I don’t know what I was thinking. I think I know what I actually want for my birthday now.”

“I’m so happy to hear you say that, Alyssa,” Mrs. Greene looked up from the counter with a relieved smile, “What do you want?”

“New paint,” Alyssa said, “Remember that paint you got me a few years ago that was made out of white shells? It was so smooth and fun to paint with, but I ran out a few months ago”

“That’s a really long trip, Alyssa,” Mrs. Greene reminded. “It takes nearly three days to get there and back. I’ll miss your birthday.”

“I know, I just really want more paint, and I thought it would be better than the floating lights,” Alyssa explained. Three days should be the perfect amount of time, even if Alyssa got home late.

“And you’ll be alright by yourself?” Mrs. Greene asked, putting her hand on Alyssa’s shoulder.

“Yes, I have plenty of things to keep me busy.”

“Okay,” Mrs. Greene nodded. “I’ll leave right now. I love you, Alyssa.”

Alyssa hugged Mrs. Greene. Everything would be fine. She wouldn’t even notice Alyssa was gone. “I love you, too”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> greenelan has officially met (technically),,, emma's unconscious,, alyssa has plans,,, what's going to happen next


	3. sometimes, you just need to jump

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma sighed. She might as well have some fun and go all in “I know not who you are. Nor how I came to find you. But may I just say. Hello.” Emma smiled flirtatiously, putting extra emphasis on the last word. Sure, the tower thing was weird, and she was not wearing shoes, but Emma was not going to pass up the chance to flirt with the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. “My name is Emma Nolan.”
> 
> “Who else knows my location, Emma Nolan?”
> 
> “ _I_ barely know your location–”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome back to chapter 3! since i'm ridiculously prepared and writing like 3 chapters in advance i am happy to announce that chapters 1-6 together have broken 20k words, so there is plenty more to come!
> 
> as usual shout out to ellis for being amazing and teaching me that you have to put periods after dialogue (who knew?).

Emma had woken up in plenty of weird places (it comes with the territory of being practically homeless for extended periods of time), but coming to in a dark tower with no door, tied to a chair, was definitely up there with weirdest places. She looked down at her chest and arms, it was hard to tell in the darkness but it looked like– 

“Is this yarn?”

“It was the only thing I had on hand,” a voice called from somewhere above Emma’s head. She could faintly make out a human shaped figure sitting on a ledge right before the ceiling began to slope to a point. “I know why you’re here.”

“Really?” Emma raised her eyebrows and pulled on the yarn tying her wrist to the chair. It didn’t budge, even when she put her full strength into it.

“Struggling is useless,” the voice continued. “I’m really good at tying knots”

“I feel like I’m talking to a ghost,” Emma muttered, squinting into the darkness.

“I’m not afraid of you.” All at once the lights came on and a figure (presumably the owner of the voice) jumped from the rafters to the ground in a purple blur. “Who are you and how did you find me?”

The mysterious voice was attached to a girl who was probably around 18 years old, and she was absolutely stunning. Emma was probably supposed to be having productive thoughts, about say, escaping from the terrifying tower that she was tied up and trapped in, but the girl didn’t seem threatening, and even if she had been, Emma couldn’t tear her eyes away from her. She was pointing a cast iron frying pan at Emma’s head (probably the frying pan that knocked Emma unconscious when she first arrived in the tower), and was doing her best to glare at Emma in a threatening manner (considering she wasn’t even wearing shoes, it wasn’t very scary). She had dark curly hair that fell a little bit below her shoulders, and brown eyes that Emma could definitely get lost in given the chance. “I hate to break it to you but you had nothing to do with my coming here.”

The girl squinted. “What?”

Emma sighed. She might as well have some fun and go all in “I know not who you are. Nor how I came to find you. But may I just say. _Hello._ ” Emma smiled flirtatiously, putting extra emphasis on the last word. Sure, the tower thing was weird, and she was not wearing shoes, but Emma was not going to pass up the chance to flirt with the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. “My name is Emma Nolan.”

“Who else knows my location, _Emma Nolan?_ ”

“ _I_ barely know your location–” Emma examined at the woman across from her, and continuing the habit of putting her foot in her mouth at the worst possible times, looked at the woman’s dress and said the first thing that came to mind– “Princess” (She’s spent a lot of time thinking about crowns over the past few months)

The woman rolled her eyes. “It’s Alyssa. Alyssa Greene.”

“Well, Miss Greene, it was very nice to meet you; your tower got me out of a tough spot, but I have things to see, places to do so if you could just untie me real quick and I’ll–” Emma blatantly remembered what she had been doing when she first arrived at the tower. Her satchel was gone. _The crown_ was gone. “Oh no, oh no no no no no! Where is my satchel?”

Alyssa crossed her arms and grinned confidently. “I’ve hidden it somewhere you’ll never find it!”

Emma squinted at Alyssa, that was a bold statement. It’s not like the tower had that many hiding places. Alyssa’s eyes darted to the right of Emma, where the top hiding places were A. a dresser drawer, B. The oven, and C. a random decorative pot in the corner. Emma took a shot in the dark. “It’s in that pot, isn’t it?”

Alyssa’s mouth formed an _O_ , and the pan came down on Emma’s head again.

\------------

Alyssa gave Emma a few minutes before giving the go ahead to Pascal. He stuck his tongue in her ear, and she jerked back to consciousness. As soon as she was awake she locked eyes with Pascal, tongue still in her ear and shook him off. “Oh gross! Could you stop doing that?!”

“Now, it’s hidden where you’ll never find it,” Alyssa repeated, calling back to the conversation they had been having before she knocked Emma out. “So now you’re going to answer my questions.”

“Sure. Why not? I have nothing better to do.” Emma sighed. Alyssa didn’t look the least bit guilty at Emma dramatics, so she moved on. “Shoot.”

“What do you want with me? Were you going to kidnap me? Kill me? Maybe even sell my location to the people who will hide me in the dark?” Alyssa said, jumping right into the lists of things her mom constantly warned her about.

“What?!” Emma looked a tinsy bit horrified, maybe Alyssa was coming on a little too strong with the murder accusations. “I don’t want to take you anywhere! Except maybe like, on a date, but even that’s feeling a little up in the air right now!”

“So you don’t want me? Or the tower?” Alyssa asked. In that case what on earth was Emma doing here?

“Princess, the only thing I want to do with your tower is leave it. As soon as possible,” Emma explained, tugging at the yarn again. “I was being chased. I saw a tower; I climbed it, and now, I’m here. I wouldn’t even be in the area, but Greg made me fall down a cliff.”

Alyssa decided to ignore that last statement and took a brief second to weigh her options. She looked at Pascal who had made his way to sit on the coffee table next to her. “I think she’s telling the truth,” Alyssa said. Pascal nodded and pointed at Emma then at the window. “She seems honest, and she’s probably my only chance.”

“Sorry, excuse me, are you TALKING to that chameleon?!” Emma asked, eyes bugging out as she looked between Alyssa and Pascal.

Alyssa looked back at Pascal then they both looked back at Emma. “Yes I am.” 

Pascal nodded.

“I need a minute,” Emma muttered, looking down at her lap.

Alyssa turned back to Pascal. “She’s telling the truth,” she repeated, giving the chameleon a final chance to talk her out of what was truly a crazy plan. When he didn’t have any objections Alyssa turned back to Emma who had finished with her crisis and was back to watching Alyssa warily. “So, Emma Nolan, we’re going to make a deal.”

“A deal?”

Alyssa walked over to the fireplace and pulled the curtains back to reveal her painting of the floating lights. “Do you recognize this?”

Emma squinted at the painting, still partially hidden by the shadows. “The solstice lanterns?”

“Lanterns?” Alyssa asked, turning back to her painting. “Lanterns,” she repeated, testing out the word. That more than anything made it feel real. Alyssa was one step closer to her dream. The floating lights are called lanterns.

“Yes?” Emma tilted her head. “Are you okay?”

“I’m great,” Alyssa breathed “Okay so, tomorrow, the lanterns are going to light up the night sky. You are going to take me to see them up close, as my guide, then you are going to return me home safely and I will return your satchel”

“As fun as that sounds, the kingdom and I aren’t exactly on good terms right now, so I’m going to have to turn you down,” Emma said, not even considering the idea. 

Alyssa grabbed Emma’s chair and pulled it closer causing her to yelp in a way that probably would’ve been cute if Alyssa wasn’t in the middle of threatening her. “Something brought you here. Fate, destiny–”

“Greg–”

Alyssa ignored Emma. “Something brought you to me, so I am going to trust you.”

“That doesn’t seem like a good idea. You don’t even know me.”

“Shut up,” Alyssa let the chair tilt slightly further forward causing Emma’s eyes to dart from the ground to Alyssa’s face, clearly putting it together that Alyssa just had to let go and she would fall flat on her face. “You might want to take the deal, because trust me when I tell you that you will never find the satchel without my help. You could tear this entire tower down brick by brick and you would still never find it”

“Uh,” Emma blinked a few times before carefully undropping her jaw and shaking her head a little. “That– um-” Pascal stuck out his tongue threateningly– “let me get this straight. I take you to see the lanterns. Bring you home. And you give me back my satchel?”

“I promise,” Alyssa confirmed she lifted the frying pan to point at Emma. “And I never break a promise.”

“And I have no chance of convincing you to free me based entirely on my flirtatious charm?” Emma asked, giving Alyssa a look that was probably supposed to be showcasing whatever _flirtatious charm_ was, but mostly just made it seem like Emma had something in her eye.

“No,” Alyssa exchanged a glance with Pascal and they both rolled their eyes. Emma was… interesting to say the least, but she seemed pretty harmless and Alyssa didn’t exactly have a lot of other options tied up in her living room.

“Fine, I’ll take you to see the lanterns,” Emma conceded. “Will you untie me now?”

Alyssa grinned and pushed the chair back, grabbing the scissors off of the coffee table. “Road trip!” 

There was a loud thud followed by Emma swearing and groaning in pain. Alyssa turned back to the chair to find it had tipped onto its back, Emma glared at Alyssa who put on her best _totally innocent_ look, cutting the string next to the knot so it would all unravel. Emma sat up on the ground and rubbed the back of her head. 

“There goes my flirtatious charm.”

\----------

Emma gave herself thirty seconds to mourn her previously undamaged skull, doing her best to make Alyssa feel as guilty as possible in hope that she would take pity on Emma and give back the satchel (she was unsuccessful).

She meandered over to the window, looking at the ground below. It wasn’t quite like falling off the edge of the world, but it was still pretty tall, and Emma’s arms and fingers were stiff and sore from her climb up the tower. Alyssa hadn’t moved from the center of the room, still standing next to the chair and watching Emma at the window with a look of trepidation. Well this wouldn’t work, if Emma was going to be stuck bringing Alyssa to the festival she was going to get it over with as fast as possible. 

“So, how do you get out of here, Princess? Because climbing three stories of uneven brick is not an experience that I want to repeat. Is there like a hidden staircase or…”

“Oh, of course.” Alyssa said, still not moving. “A way out.”

This was going to be a long trip. “Yes. A way out.”

The chameleon– Pascal apparently– chirped loudly in Alyssa’s ear causing the other girl to jump into motion. “Sorry I was just thinking.” She brushed by Emma to open a chest sitting beneath the window sill, and pulled out a rope ladder, hooking it on the large hook outside the window. “This is how we can get down.”

Emma’s day just got weirder and weirder. _Who builds a tower where the only way in and out is a rope ladder?_ Whenever you left you would either need to leave the ladder up and risk being robbed, or you would need to pull it down, leaving you no way back into the tower. Alyssa didn’t seem to realize there was anything weird so Emma decided to just drop it.

“I suppose I should just be glad you didn’t just say, _‘We have to climb it_ ’. I can do rope ladder,” Emma muttered. She only had to make it through a few days with Alyssa, then she would get the crown back, and they would never have to see each other ever again. Emma grabbed the rope ladder to give it an experimental tug. When she turned back Alyssa had returned to her place far away from the window, twisting her hands in her dress and watching Emma. “You ready?”

Alyssa took a deep breath and slowly unwound her hands from her dress “Yeah sorry. This is uh, a big moment for me.”

“Uh huh,” Emma nodded. “So, I get that, but also we need to leave, so I’ll just…” She took Alyssa’s arm, slowly leading her closer to the window. Alyssa looked out over the clearing, leaning over the edge of the window to stare at the ground below. Emma reached around her to grab the rope ladder and climbed onto the closest rung, beginning to climb down. “Can I give you a hint, Princess?”

Alyssa jerked away from the window like she had been burned, looking back at Emma who was already halfway down the ladder. “What?”

“Sometimes, you just need to jump,” Emma said, letting go of the ladder and dropping the rest of the way to the ground. She landed and rolled for a few seconds to disperse the momentum before jumping back to her feet.

Up above her Alyssa still hadn’t touched the rope ladder. Instead, she was standing on the ledge, leaning out just enough that the wind was sending her hair flying around her face. It almost reminded Emma of herself, standing at the top of the castle. She briefly considered just leaving. She could run and back home and regroup, find some other way to destabilize the monarchy, but also that sounded like a lot of work and leaving the crown with Alyssa would probably put her in danger if Greg ever tracked down the tower. So, Emma stayed, leaning against the base of the tower and watching Alyssa tentatively grab the ladder and begin to climb down.

Alyssa stopped on the last rung of the ladder, looking down curiously at the grass that brushed the bottom of her feet. She slowly put down her right foot on the grass. 

“Whoa,” Alyssa looked down in wonder and fell to her knees, running her hands through the grass. “This is what grass feels like?”

Emma looked down at the grass beneath her feet, trying to understand what Alyssa was seeing. “Uh yeah?”

“Oh my god is that a flower?!” Alyssa lunged to the right, grabbing a dandelion from where it was poking out of a crack between the ground and the tower. “It’s so beautiful.”

“That’s more of a weed but–” Before Emma could finish speaking Alyssa was on her feet, running across the clearing to look at something new. Emma sighed, “We’re going to be here for a while.”

Alyssa ran past again to jump into the shallows of the river, splashing around in the water and picking up rocks. It was like she had never seen any of it before, and Emma couldn’t help but feel a little guilty that she wanted to ditch Alyssa as soon as possible. 

_Has she really never been outside?_

Emma had initially assumed that Alyssa was exaggerating when she said that Emma was her only chance to see the lanterns and that she just thought it would be easier with a guide, but watching her talk to Pascal in wonder about one of the little purple flowers that grew all over the forest it was clear that Emma probably _was_ her only chance.

Emma was still going to do everything in her power to get her satchel back as soon as possible, but it was interesting information.

“Princess, are you ready to go? We have places to be,” Emma called, pulling Alyssa’s attention away from a butterfly she was following (because that was apparently a thing people actually did). Instead of answering Emma’s question like a normal person, Alyssa sprinted towards the exit, disappearing into the tunnel. “Fuck. What am I supposed to do with the ladder?” Emma muttered, she was tempted to just leave it where it was but it would be rather unfortunate if Alyssa got robbed or something. She would have to take it down, something that was easier said than done. 

After a few minutes of vigorous shaking the ladder finally slipped off the hook and fell directly on Emma’s already damaged head. She quickly stuck the ladder in a bush and walked back towards the tunnel. Maybe Alyssa would be gone by the time she got there.

Alyssa was not gone; in fact, she appeared to be having an existential crisis, sitting with her back against a tree and staring dejectedly at the ground in front of her. “I’m a terrible daughter.”

“What?” Emma raised her eyebrows.

“Mom just wanted to keep me safe. She’s going to be so worried about me,” Alyssa muttered. Something caught her eye behind Emma and she shot to her feet. “IS THAT A SQUIRREL?” She got all the way to the third lowest branch on the tree before flopping down on the branch and frowning at the ground. “I can’t believe I did this.”

“Are you okay?”

“I need to go back,” Alyssa mumbled “I can’t do this.”

Emma brightened. “Oh, well, that’s okay! It’s already really impressive how far you’ve gotten, maybe next time you kidnap someone to be your guide you might even make it to that tree.” Emma pointed to a tree across the clearing from the cave. “The most important thing is that you tried and–”

Above them the trees shifted in the wind and a sunbeam shined on Alyssa’s face. “Whoa the sun is so much brighter here.” She lifted her hand into the sun, laughing and basking in the light “I am never going back!” The trees shifted again leaving her in shadow and her expression darkened. “How could I betray her trust like this?”

“Okay, well, you seem to be having a bit of a crisis here, so– and it pains me to say this– I think I can find it in my heart to let you out of the deal,” Emma said, hand over heart. Alyssa looked up at her curiously and Pascal squeaked in annoyance. “That’s right! So you can just take your pan and your frog–” Emma grabbed the pan from the ground and Pascal from the rock he was sitting on and handed them both to Alyssa. “And we’ll turn back. I get my satchel, you get back to your mother and voila! We part ways as friends.”

Alyssa didn’t even consider it. “No. I’m seeing the lanterns”

“Oh, come on!” Emma groaned. “I really need that satchel back!”

Alyssa pointed her frying pan at Emma’s face. “I will use this”

Having already felt the wrath of Alyssa’s frying pan twice, Emma was not looking to repeat that experience. Before she could come up with a response that wouldn’t end with a frying pan colliding with her (very fragile) head, there was a rustling in the bushes and Alyssa launched herself onto Emma’s back, hiding behind her, pointing the pan at the bush.

“What is it? Ruffians? Thugs?”

Emma heroically, did not laugh at Alyssa, that would be rude. Instead she resorted to sarcasm. Far more polite. 

“It can probably smell fear” Emma whispered. Judging by the fact that there had been no human noises, and it was the middle of the day, it was most likely a small animal, or even just the wind. Maybe it would make Alyssa scared enough that she would want to go home. The bushes shook a second time and a small bunny hopped out, freezing when it noticed Emma and Alyssa. “Well, that doesn’t look anything like a ruffian or a thug. We should probably avoid those.”

“Oh,” Alyssa unattached herself from Emma’s back. “It’s cute” She stepped closer to the bunny, spooking it so that it ran back into the bushes. “I second avoiding ruffians and thugs”

That gave Emma an idea. She was probably going to go to hell for it, but she really needed the satchel back, and she didn’t like her odds of surviving the trip to the kingdom she just robbed. “Are you hungry? I know a great place for lunch.”

Alyssa seemed to have recovered from her bunny scare and was back to smiling excitedly. “That sounds great! Lead the way!”

\------

Greg sighed as he looked inside what had to be the sixteenth bush he had checked. Emma wasn’t hiding inside. After getting launched down the cliff, he had been looking for her everywhere, but he still hadn’t found even a trace of her. It was a little weird; his surroundings didn’t have that many places to hide, and he was sure the area was just as unknown to Emma as it was to him, so she wouldn’t’ve trekked deeper into the forest. She would want to get back to the known part of the forest as quickly as possible to follow whatever detailed plan she had concocted. After all the Emma he knew always had an escape route at the ready, though she wasn’t exactly the Emma he knew anymore.

There was a rustling noise a few feet away and Greg drew his sword. Finally, Emma had slipped up. He jumped through the bush, already pointing his sword at Emma’s face.

Except it wasn’t Emma’s face. It was some random lady. She was older, probably around the same age as Greg’s parents, with reddish brown hair and a blue cloak. “Sorry, ma’am, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Greg said, putting his sword down.

“No apologies necessary,” the woman responded; her voice was tight and her eyes shifted back and forth, a common trait among the civilians that Greg ran into. People were always put off by the palace guard thing. It made them act more suspicious (inconvenient when he was trying to track down an actual criminal). “What are you doing so far from the castle?”

“I’m searching for a dangerous thief in the area,” Greg fumbled in his pocket, eventually pulling out a wanted poster. “This woman has stolen something valuable and the king and queen want it back.”

“A thief? And a palace guard?” the woman said, horrified. “How did they get so close to–” The woman cut herself off, reevaluating Greg and taking the poster to more closely examine it.

She seemed rightfully concerned, so Greg searched for something to say to calm her nerves. “I promise, as soon as I find Em– the thief, I’ll be happy to leave you in peace.”

“Fine,” The woman looked around the clearing to get her bearings before pointing to the left. “I saw her go that way. You better hurry if you want to catch up.”

“Thank you, ma’am, you won’t regret this.” Greg reached for the wanted poster, but the woman pulled it back.

“Can I hold onto this?” The woman asked. “It’s not every day you see a real life thief.”

“Of course,” Greg had extras. They were being put up across town, taking the place of Emma’s last wanted poster (Stealing jewelry from a noble family). He nodded at the woman. “Thank you for your service to the king and queen”

The woman ran off in the opposite direction Greg was going, gone as soon as she appeared. By the time she reached her destination, Greg was too far away to hear her scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mrs greene did not just get murdered


	4. the snuggly duckling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hey, Angie! Your finest table, please.”
> 
> Angie raised her eyebrows at Emma, thoroughly unimpressed by her antics. “You shouldn’t be here, Nolan.”
> 
> Emma’s smile didn’t waiver; they clearly knew each other at least a little bit. “Why would I not visit my favorite establishment this side of the river?” 
> 
> “Last I heard you were bailing town after a confrontation with the guards. You have any success?”
> 
> Alyssa let her attention drift, but Emma’s camaraderie with Angie hadn’t lifted the glares from the rest of the bar’s patrons. Alyssa couldn’t say for sure but it seemed like they had gotten closer, cornering them off at the bar.
> 
> “I ran into some problems,” Emma admitted, nudging Alyssa to bring her attention back to Angie. “Meet Alyssa.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i say this every time but things are picking up.... time for everyones favorite spontaneous musical number!!
> 
> as usual shoutout to ellis for being a fantastic beta reader!!!!

After what felt like hours of walking, they finally arrived back in an area of the forest that Emma deemed “normal” (whatever that was supposed to mean. It looked the same as the rest of the forest with trees and bushes and the occasional small animal that would scamper across the trail before Alyssa could get a good look at it).

At the next crossroads, the trail widened, and Alyssa’s eye caught on a tree covered in what appeared to be white squares. She looked to where Emma was still walking, oblivious to the odd tree, before crossing the trail to get a better look at it. The squares turned out to be paper, kind of like the stuff found in Alyssa’s books, except the pieces were loose; when she flipped up a page there was nothing beneath it. Each paper had words at the top, most advertising some kind of event (the summer solstice festival? Is that what the lanterns were for?), with a small drawing in the center beneath the words. 

One of the posters caught her eye. It looked newer than the others, the paper pristine and flat. The top of the poster read  _ WANTED _ in large bold letters, followed by a picture of– 

“Wait is this you?”

Emma spun around trying to find where Alyssa’s voice had come from. When her eyes fell on Alyssa, far behind her by the tree she groaned loudly and jogged back over. “You realize we’re in a hurry, right?”

Alyssa looked between the poster and Emma. “Is this you?”

Emma pulled the poster off of the tree and held it close to her face. “Oh this is horrible”

“What are you “wanted” for?” Alyssa asked. Emma seemed harmless, Alyssa couldn't imagine what she could do to warrant a wanted poster, it even offered a reward, though she had no frame of reference to know if the amount of money was a lot. All her mother's talk about evil and thugs it would be really embarrassing if Alyssa accidentally teamed up with an evil mastermind.

“Alyssa, you are ignoring the real tragedy here!” Emma held up the poster next to her head and made the serious face her ink counterpart was sporting. “They never get my nose right!”

_ Yeah, harmless. _

Alyssa looked between Emma and the poster. She wasn’t wrong, the Emma in the picture was drawn with a pointy nose, reminiscent of the characters in Alyssa’s old picture books. It was nothing like Emma’s nose, Alyssa wasn’t even convinced any real people had a nose that sharp, but other than that the picture was pretty good, capturing Emma’s look with minimal brush strokes. “You look good.” 

Emma’s smile widened and she raised her eyebrows flirtatiously. “Really?”

Alyssa wacked Emma’s arm with the frying pan. “You know what I meant!”

“That was violent.” Emma pouted, rubbing her arm dramatically. “I don’t even want to be here! I’m doing this for you!”

_ Ouch. _ The reminder that they weren’t real friends killed the mood, and they both fell silent, the previous camaraderie gone in an instant. Alyssa was almost tempted to just let Emma leave (partly out of spite), but then she would be left alone with no idea how to get back to the tower. The silence was absolutely suffocating and she desperately looked for something to break it. A building came into sight in front of them and Alyssa latched onto the new conversation topic. “Is this the place you were talking about?”

“Uh, yeah.” Emma looked uncharacteristically shifty, frowning as she looked between Alyssa and the building. Clearly their previous conversation topic had thrown her off as well, maybe she was deciding whether or not to run off and leave without the crown. She seemed to come to some kind of conclusion because her expression shifted back to the confident smile that Alyssa had gotten used to. “Welcome to the Snuggly Duckling!”

Alyssa didn’t have a lot of experience with buildings other than the tower, but even she could tell that the building standing in front of them was a shithole.

For one thing. it was absolutely not snuggly; in fact, it looked like the kind of place that her mom would talk about. The walls were splattered with dark stains that looked a lot like blood, a theory that was only helped by the knives and various weapons stuck in the wood. The smell made Alyssa feel like she was going to puke, and they weren’t even within ten feet of the place. Everything about it screamed death and darkness. 

_ Was this what all the buildings in the kingdom were like?  _

Alyssa had always assumed it would be a place of wonder and beauty, that even the darkest places would still have light. This was not that. “Are you sure we should be here?”

“Don’t worry. It's a very quaint place. Perfect for you,” Emma said, putting her arm around Alyssa’s shoulder and leading her closer to the building. Alyssa would argue that the building did not appear to be quaint or perfect, but it was possible that the off-putting exterior was just to keep people away unless they already knew about it. The inside could look completely different. “We don’t want you getting too scared and giving up on this endeavor.”

Alyssa groaned, dragging her feet. She was probably going to regret this, but Emma seemed to think it was a good idea, and Emma was her only guide so she needed to make sure she didn’t get murdered in the death building. Worst case scenario, Alyssa could hit a few people with the frying pan. “I suppose I do like ducklings.”

“Yes! Fantastic!” Emma pulled Alyssa along faster with a skip in her step, pulling the wooden door open with far too much confidence.

The inside was pretty much exactly how Alyssa had imagined. Nearly every seat was filled, and all of the patrons were people with scars and weapons bigger than Alyssa’s head. There was a large man with a hook for a hand glaring at her, and a woman with an eye patch who stuck her foot in Alyssa’s path in an attempt to trip her. It was terrifying. It was like all the nightmares and stories her mom told her had come to life and gathered in the same room. 

Although, when she looked closer it seemed that most of the patrons weren’t actually looking at  _ Alyssa _ , instead most of them had their eyes fixed on Emma, who remained oblivious. Emma propped her elbows on the bar and grinned at the woman working behind the counter. She had blonde curly hair, and was tall enough that Alyssa had to look up in order to look her in the eye. Something about her was familiar, though Alyssa was unable to pinpoint exactly what it was. “Hey, Angie! Your finest table, please.”

Angie raised her eyebrows at Emma, thoroughly unimpressed by her antics. “You shouldn’t be here, Nolan.”

Emma’s smile didn’t waiver; they clearly knew each other at least a little bit. “Why would I not visit my favorite establishment this side of the river?” 

“Last I heard you were bailing town after a confrontation with the guards. You have any success?”

Alyssa let her attention drift, but Emma’s camaraderie with Angie hadn’t lifted the glares from the rest of the bar’s patrons. Alyssa couldn’t say for sure but it seemed like they had gotten closer, cornering them off at the bar.

“I ran into some problems,” Emma admitted, nudging Alyssa to bring her attention back to Angie. “Meet Alyssa.”

Alyssa waved hesitantly, edging out from where she had been hovering behind Emma. “Hello.”

For just a second, Angie’s confident expression disappeared, leaving behind something closer to shock, but it was gone just as fast as it appeared. She cleared her throat and examined Alyssa. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Before she could overthink it too much Alyssa held out her hand for Angie to shake.

Angie looked pleasantly surprised and took the invitation, shaking Alyssa’s hand. “Polite. It’s unfortunate that you’ve fallen in with Nolan.”

“Why?” Alyssa asked, falling into the rhythm of the conversation and doing her best to ignore the ominous crowd surrounding them. It was surprisingly easy, especially considering the fake offended look Emma was sporting, her eyes wide and dramatic. Unfortunately she could only stare at Emma for so long, and when she looked away the crowd was even closer. 

“This might be my bar,” Angie said, looking pointedly around them at the crowd of thugs that had continued circling them. “But she’s as good as dead.”

“Well that’s a bit harsh,” Emma said, seemingly oblivious to the increasing threat, not even bothering to look behind them. She locked eyes with Alyssa, who had shifted her stance away from the bar to point her flying pan at anyone who moved, causing a couple of thugs to look at her in confusion. Alyssa  was doing her best to convey  _ we need to leave right now _ through her expression alone, but Emma missed the point completely, instead choosing to grin at her teasingly. “Well you aren’t looking so good, Princess.” Angie snorted softly, exchanging a glance with Alyssa while Emma continued rambling. “Maybe we should call it a day and head home. This is a five star joint, so if you can’t handle it here–” Emma abruptly cut herself off, having finally turned around and noticed their audience. “Oops.”

A woman stood up from her chair and held out a poster that was nearly identical to the one they had been looking at earlier, except Emma’s nose now resembled something out of Pinocchio. “Is this you?”

Emma leaned closer to examine the poster. “This one is even worse! Now they’re just being mean.”

“Oh, it’s her alright!” One of the men at the bar stood from his chair, towering over Emma and Alyssa. He had a large axe slung over his back and in place of his left hand there was a large hook. He nodded to the woman with the poster. “Go find some guards. That reward is going to buy me a new hook.”

It was like a bomb had been set off in the bar. All of the thugs rushed forward, yelling about the reward and what they were going to spend it on. At least no one was going after Alyssa; her mom had always made it sound like everyone would know who she was and about her powers, but everyone clearly had no idea.

Well, everyone except Angie. Something about the way she looked at Alyssa felt different, like she knew something, like she knew  _ Alyssa _ .

“You might want to go help her out.” Angie said. She was still behind the bar, drying off a glass while she watched the chaos unfold. A woman with an eye patch snatched Emma away from the thug in the helmet who had been holding her, with a shout about being broke, only to be knocked to the side by a figure in head to toe metal armor almost like the guards her mother used to tell her about.

She could hear Emma, unsuccessfully trying to talk her way out. “C’mon guys! We can work this out.” Another thug grabbed her in a headlock, cutting off the constant stream of words.

Angie was right (unfortunately). Alyssa needed Emma to be her guide, and she couldn’t risk Emma getting captured and giving away the location of the tower to someone who  _ did _ know about her powers. 

Alyssa steeled herself, taking a deep breath and lifting the frying pan, before running into the fray. She dodged a shoe that had gone flying from somewhere in the center of the crowd and began banging on the back of the closest person, the man with the hook hand. 

“Let! Her! Go!” She punctuated each word a hit of the pan on the silver shield he wore on his back. “Give me back my guide!”

Unfortunately, none of the thugs were bothered by Alyssa’s attack, one of them even going so far as to bat her out of the way like a fly. She backed away from the crowd to find something bigger she could use to get everyone's attention. Across the room there was a dead tree, with branches still attached. One of said branches was placed right above the cluster of thugs, a few feet above her head. Maybe Alyssa could break it and send it crashing down on their heads? Except it seemed like some had planned for that, there was a rope tied to the end of the branch that went up over a rafter, then came down and attached to the wall about ten feet above the floor. She examined the rope, if she pulled on the end attached to the wall... “Well, I have no other options.”

Alyssa put the frying pan back in her belt and found a table to push underneath the rope. She carefully climbed on top, reaching for the rope. It was a little too far above her head, and the table was definitely not sturdy enough to jump on. Even on her tiptoes it was a few inches out of reach. She grabbed the frying pan again and carefully hooked the pan around to rope, pulling it down far enough that she could grab it with her hands and pull it all the way down to the table so that the branch was bent. 

When she let go the branch thwacked down, nailing the hook hand man in the head. The bar fell silent and all the thugs turned to look at Alyssa.

“Put her down!” Alyssa yelled, still on top of the table. She could do this. It was fine. “I don’t know where I am, and I need her to take me to see the lanterns, because I've been dreaming about them my entire life.” Alyssa stomped on the table. She probably seemed petulant, but it had been a really long day, and this was the most stressful thing ever (back in the tower,  _ Pascal _ had never decided to go into a crowded bar of criminals with what seemed to be a very large bounty on his head). “Please just find some humanity! Haven’t any of you ever had a dream?”

Hook Hand turned around, drawing his axe. This was it, Alyssa was going to die because Emma was an idiot, and she was an idiot by extension because she purposely drew the thugs’ attention to her, and then her mother was going to kill her a second time when she found out. The man stopped a few feet in front of Alyssa and she flinched when he swung his axe down, only to look up in confusion when it hit the table.

“I had a dream once.” He pulled the axe out of the table and threw it across the room where it hit the wall and stuck right over the head of a guy holding an accordion. Snorting awake, the man took in his crowd and the axe inches above his head, and began to play.

\------

Okay, maybe going into the bar wasn’t Emma’s best idea. It hadn’t exactly occurred to her that she was technically wanted, and there was a huge reward on her head (sure she had dealt with rewards before, but usually they were small enough that no one wanted to risk their own capture by turning her in). You win some, you lose some. When Alyssa got the thugs attention, Emma did her best to slip out of their holds causing the thugs to grip her righter. On the bright side she was incredibly relieved that hook man didn’t get a chance to punch her brains out, but was very concerned about how Alyssa was planning to hold her own with a frying pan against 30 criminals.

“Haven’t any of you ever had a dream?”

Well, that was not the direction Emma was expecting her to go in.

“I had a dream once,” Hook Hand said, throwing his axe across the room. Emma couldn’t exactly turn her head, still stuck in the hold of five or six goons, but she heard the axe hit the wall and of all things, an accordion began to play.

Emma could barely believe her ears when Hook Hand began to sing. “I’m malicious, mean, and scary. My sneer could curdle dairy, and violence wise my hands are not the cleanest.”

“What the fuck,” Emma muttered. Her captors finally put her down on the ground, and Emma had exactly 3 seconds to shake out her arms and legs before someone grabbed her shirt and lifted her into the air, hooking the back of her shirt on the wall so that she was suspended 5 feet in the air.

With no choice but to accept her fate Emma watched as Alyssa jumped off the table she had stood on to break up the fight, following Hook Hand to the grand piano. She looked surprisingly at ease, laughing and singing with him despite the rough start. 

She could see Angie across the room, still cleaning up at the bar. She looked amused by the musical number happening, even more so when she noticed Emma hanging on the wall. She waved at Emma, but made no move to rescue her, which was unsurprising. The Snuggly Duckling was one of the only bars in the area that had never gotten burned down or destroyed, mostly because Angie tended to just watch the chaos unfold and only kick people out when it would harm the bar.

Emma had always had an interesting relationship with Angie. She was the first person Emma met who didn’t abide by the rich status quo that her parents were always so fond of. She was the kind of person Emma always wanted to become when she was younger, confident and interesting, doing her own thing outside of the city.

When she got kicked out of the house and had nowhere to go, Emma went to Angie, crashing behind the bar and working as a waitress for a few months until she found her footing. Angie taught her to fight, and how to only steal from people who had more than they needed. Without Angie, she would still be living on the streets outside her parents house, pick-pocketing the easiest targets.

By the second verse of the song Emma had accepted her fate. She had somehow gotten tied up with Alyssa who lived in a tower, talked to chameleons, and was able to start impromptu musical numbers. Why not?

She watched as a man with a particularly large nose took to the stage, singing about his wish to find love despite his less than conventional looks. It was a little sad that  _ that _ was his greatest dream, instead of something real like going somewhere or doing something.  Sure, it would be nice to find love, but in a future kind of way, not as the one thing you want from life. Emma wasn’t going to put all her energy into looking for love, she had bigger dreams to take care of first.

Suddenly everyone in the bar turned to look at Emma. Hook Hand grabbed her by the back of her shirt again (this was getting insulting) and held her up in front of his face, giving her a fantastic view of his bald head. “How about you?”

“What?” Emma had gotten distracted when the song transitioned to list the dreams of every single person in the bar (they had somehow managed to find a bar full of criminals with dreams fully unrelated to crime), and was struggling to figure out what she missed.

“What’s your dream?"

Yeah, that’s definitely not happening. “Sorry, boys; I don’t sing”

All of the thugs reached for their weapons and Emma scrambled onto the table Alyssa had been standing on earlier. It was just a little improv. “I’ve got dreams like you, no really!” Emma sang, proceeding to stutter out a verse about making the world a better place, because in the end that's the only thing she could think of on such short notice. Ever since getting kicked out, the only thing she could focus on was leaving some kind of mark on the world and making her parents sorry they ever abandoned her. If she realigns the kingdom with the sun, that might finally show them that she's worth something. 

It's a selfish dream.

The entire thing felt absolutely ridiculous, but everyone cheered when she finished the verse, and no one put her back on the wall. She had been planning to go hide by the bar as soon as possible, but something about the energy in the musical number pulled her in and she found herself reluctantly singing along.

“I’ve got a dream!” Alyssa called from across the room, waving everyone over. “I’ve got a dream!” She had somehow found light in the dark bar and it caused her hair to shine with a golden highlight, almost like she was wearing a crown. She looked stunning. “I just want to see the floating lanterns gleam! And with every passing hour I'm so glad I left my tower! Like all you lovely folks I've got a dream!”

After that the bar descended into chaos, one thug even going so far as to back handspring himself out the window. Emma ended up next to Alyssa, who was singing along to the chorus. She looked Emma over as if to make sure she was uninjured, then punched her in the arm. “Ow!”

“I’ve got a dream –You’re a dumbass– I’ve got a dream” Alyssa sang, punching Emma in the arm again, then pulling her into a quick hug. “I am glad you’re okay. Never do that again.”

Emma couldn’t help but feel a little ashamed that Alyssa had clearly seen right through Emma’s plan to get rid of her, despite the fact that it didn’t really matter what Alyssa thought of her. She wasn’t trying to put Alyssa in danger; it was just supposed to scare her enough that she would give back the satchel and leave Emma alone. Before Emma could structure some kind of apology, the song picked up again and Alyssa ran off to join in.

Emma looked around the bar for something to do that would hopefully not involve singing, and noticed Angie, still at the bar. She was watching Alyssa where she was singing along with the thugs, while aimlessly drying a glass. When she noticed Emma’s attention she put down the glass and waved her hand in a  _ come here _ gesture.

Emma weaved through the crowd and leaned over the counter, stealing the glass Angie had been drying and filling it with water (she did just participate in a musical number).

“That was dirty,” Angie said, unimpressed.

Emma looked between Angie and the glass, trying to decide if she was telling the truth. “...You’re lying.”

Angie just shrugged in response, putting down the towel she had been using. She grabbed Emma’s shoulders and turned her so she was facing the other side of the room where Alyssa was singing on another table, practically glowing in the candle light. “She’s special,” Angie said, pointing at Emma, then turning her back to look her in the eye. “And I expect you to keep her safe.”

That was the last thing Emma was expecting Angie to say, and she fumbled for a response. Did Angie know Alyssa somehow? Emma thought back to when they first arrived at the bar, Alyssa would've said something if she knew Angie right? “What does that–”

Right as the song was finally ending, a man burst through the door of the bar, cutting her off. Emma recognized him as one of the people who had been in the bar when they first arrived. “I found the palace guards!”


	5. that dam secret passageway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I know she's in here somewhere. Find her. Turn the place upside down!” An authoritative voice said, their footsteps coming to a stop at the edge of the bar. “Are you the owner of this establishment?”
> 
> “Yes, I am, and I don’t take too kindly to you scaring off my paying customers,” Angie said, her voice echoing beneath the bar.
> 
> “I’m surprised any of those so called customers have anything to pay with.” The guard said. “Anyway, we just have to do a search then we’ll be out of your hair. I don’t suppose you’ve seen Emma Nolan?”
> 
> “Not in years.” Angie lied.

_ I found the palace guards. _

The words echoed in Alyssa’s mind as she struggled to put them together. Her mother had always warned her not to trust palace guards, even going so far as to show her drawings of the uniforms so that if one ever stumbled into the clearing, Alyssa would know to hide. She scrambled down from the table, bumping into a chair with a clatter. 

Where was Emma? Emma would know what to do.

“Alyssa!” Emma shout-whispered. She wove through the frozen crowd and grabbed Alyssa’s hand, pulling her back the way she had come, away from the door. When she spoke it was like a bomb went off. The crowd that had previously been stunned into silence came back to life, yelling about the guards and climbing out windows left and right.

The problem was that Emma was leading her away from all the exits, and seemed to have no intention of changing direction. Alyssa stopped walking. “Why are you going that way? We need to leave.”

Emma groaned and tried to keep walking but Alyssa held firm, waiting for an explanation. “If we try to leave they’re going to catch us. Trust me, there’s a perimeter established. The only thing climbing out the window does is make you look guilty and easy to catch. Our best bet is to hide until the guards leave.”

_ Oh. That seems reasonable.  _ Alyssa tended to forget that Emma was an established thief, even though she had never hesitated to admit it. 

“Fine, but we need to hurry.” Alyssa ignored Emma’s grumble of  _ that’s what I was saying _ and pulled her along behind her, heading to the bar at the back of the room. As soon as Angie noticed them she waved them forward, smoothly opening the bar and hustling them behind it.

“Thanks, Angie. I owe you one”

Angie snorted. “You owe me more than one.”

Alyssa did her best to huddle beneath the bar, right behind Angie’s legs. She heard a slamming noise that was probably the door to the bar being forced open, and footsteps falling into the room. “I know she's in here somewhere. Find her. Turn the place upside down!” An authoritative voice said, their footsteps coming to a stop at the edge of the bar. “Are you the owner of this establishment?”

“Yes, I am, and I don’t take too kindly to you scaring off my paying customers,” Angie said, her voice echoing beneath the bar.

“I’m surprised any of those so called customers have anything to pay with.” The guard said. “Anyway, we just have to do a search then we’ll be out of your hair. I don’t suppose you’ve seen Emma Nolan?”

“Not in years.” Angie lied, not that Alyssa would’ve been able to tell if she wasn’t sitting next to the truth. The guard stomped away from the bar and Angie walked over to the back wall where the liquor was stored. “You girls better get out of here.”

“How?”

Angie grinned and carefully pulled down on one of the bottles. The top was decorated with a small yellow duckling. The floor behind the bar began to silently lower, until there was a large ramp leading down into a tunnel. “Go. Live your dream.”

“Thank you.” Alyssa whispered, following Emma’s lead down into the tunnel which closed behind them.

\--------

As soon as Emma and Alyssa were out of the way, Angie pulled up a stool to watch the chaos unfold. More guards were continuing to pour in, along with two girls in chains who Angie vaguely recognized as Emma’s crew, though they must not have parted on good terms as they looked pissed. They probably led the guards to the bar as part of a plea deal, where they could go free if they helped the guards catch Emma. The royals must have been really worried about Emma having the crown, as the guards just kept pouring in. The remaining customers had been huddling in the corner, but they finally broke apart to confront the guard leading the search.

“Excuse me,” The person speaking was one of Angie’s regular customers, An- something. Ansel? “I believe this is the woman you’re looking for!” Ansley said, pulling Ylva, an old woman who was well known for tangling with the royal guard on multiple occasions, out of the crowd.

Ylva held out her hands to the guards with a grin. “You got me!”

The captain of the guard scoffed, not even acknowledging them.

“Sir.” One of the guards who had been poking around the piano seemed to have finally given up. “There’s no sign of Nolan.”

“She was here wasn’t she,” a voice asked from behind Angie. She hadn’t even realized any of the guards had dared to go behind the bar. She turned around slowly, not letting her shock show on her face. The guard behind her way on the younger side, probably closer to Emma’s age, with floppy brown hair peeking out from his helmet. He didn’t look threatening in the least, but Angie wasn’t going to be disarmed by some kid.

“I haven’t seen her,” Angie said, repeating what she had told the captain. The guards wouldn’t hesitate to burn down the bar if she was deemed uncooperative or if she got caught in a lie. That didn’t mean she couldn’t mess with this kid. “Customers aren’t allowed behind the bar.”

“I’m not a–” The guard paused mid sentence, his eyes catching on the wall of bottles “What’s in that one?” He asked, pointing in a vague direction at the wall.

“Which one?” Angie asked. The kid reached out and grabbed the bottle with the duckling on top, pulling it away from the wall. Angie allowed herself a small  _ fuck _ , before carefully schooling her features. They both watched as the entrance to the secret passageway slid open.

“Greg, what are you doing back there? There’s nothing of use to us here.” The captain interrupted.

The kid– Greg apparently– looked between Angie and the passageway for a few moments. Angie sent a small prayer that maybe he would choose to leave it and not tell the other guards, but it went unanswered. “I found a passageway!”

Angie watched silently as the guards crowded around the bar, doing her best to look shocked by the presence of the passageway, luckily the guards didn’t seem to care about her. The captain assigned a group of five soldiers, including himself and Greg, to go into the passage and track down Emma. 

Hopefully, she and Alyssa had the common sense to hurry and would be long gone by the time the guards reached the end of the passage. Right as the guards were beginning to file out there was a commotion, and Emma’s ex-teammates came running forward to dive into the passage right before it closed. They must not have been very important, as the remaining guards didn’t bother going after them, one of them just berated the guard who Angie assumed had been assigned to watch them.

Right as the final guard was filing out of the building, a figure in a black cloak slipped inside the empty bar. Angie watched as the figure weaved around tables, not touching anything, and stopped at the bar. 

Veronica Greene lowered her hood.

“Greene.” Angie said, the word clipped and emotionless.

“Angie.”

“What are you doing here?” Angie asked, despite the fact that the answer had just walked out through the secret passage.

“You need to tell me where that tunnel leads out.” Mrs. Greene said, nodding to the bottle with the duckling. The way she said the words made it clear that she thought Angie would tell her right away.

All of a sudden Angie was angry, because what right did Veronica Greene have to waltz back into her life after so many years had passed, and demand answers when she’s the one who told Angie to leave? She wants to throw herself across the bar, she wants to turn away and never look back, and most of all, she doesn’t want to tell Veronica Greene anything. 

“I don’t  _ need _ to do anything.”

“Alyssa is going to get caught. She’s a child. She doesn’t know how harsh the world is.”

“And who’s fault is that?” Angie asked, taking the smallest bit of pride in the fact that Veronica looked hurt by the words.

“How could you let her leave with that blonde girl? She’s going to turn Alyssa in as soon as she realizes who she is.” Mrs. Greene said, taking a different angle.

“Emma’s the last person who would ever do that” Angie trusted that Emma knew what she was doing, and anyway, it would be counterproductive for her to turn in Alyssa.

“She’s a thief. I’ve seen the wanted posters.” Mrs. Greene scoffed, rolling her eyes.

Angie raised her eyebrows. “I take it you don’t know what she stole?”

“Of course I do. Alyssa left it in a pot in the tower.” Mrs. Greene reached into her cloak and pulled out a brown satchel. “It’s some jewelry thing, probably worth a lot of money.”

Angie quickly grabbed Mrs. Greene’s arm, pulling it down so that she wasn’t showing off the satchel to anyone who cared to look in the window. “You might want to take a closer look.”

Mrs. Greene rolled her eyes and looked into the bag at which point her expression shifted comically. “This is the solstice crown.”

“Yeah,” Angie gestured behind her in the direction that the passage led, dropping her voice to a tone that was hopefully more comforting. “Emma’s been planning to steal it for months. She wants to make things right.”

For a second, it looked like Mrs. Greene believed her, and believed that Emma would keep Alyssa safe, but then, something changed and the glare was back. “Fine, so she’s going to force Alyssa to follow some kind of  _ revolution _ . Either way she’s going to get Alyssa killed.” She clearly wasn’t going to be swayed. Angie could only hope that she would make the right choice when it mattered.

“Okay, fine.” Angie groaned. Someday, she was going to win an argument against Veronica Greene. “The tunnel lets out into an old tree in the forest. The tree will have a trapdoor with a duck painted on it. Here’s a map.” Angie slid the paper across the bar. It would be easier than trying to explain exactly where the tree was and she had multiple copies.

“Thank you.” Mrs. Greene said, turning to go. In a split second decision, Angie grabbed the edge of her cloak and pulled her to a stop.

“Wait. Just promise me one thing?” Angie asked, waiting until Veronica nodded. “When you see Alyssa, please just take a second to look at her as an adult. She’s not the little baby that we need to protect anymore. She’s a person, and she deserves to have a life.”

“If I don’t get her back to the tower, she’ll never have a life. It’ll be taken away.” Veronica pulled away to leave, weaving back through the tables and out the front door that closed behind her with a final slam, leaving Angie alone in the dark bar.

\------

Emma lifted the lantern higher, doing her best to illuminate the entire tunnel so that they could see where they were going. It had been a few years since the last time she used the passage, and she didn’t want to risk them getting lost. Emma didn’t know for sure, but she had a suspicion that if they missed the lanterns because they were stuck underground Alyssa might kill her. Speaking of, Alyssa still looked a bit shook from the bar fiasco, so Emma searched her mind for something they could talk about. 

“I didn’t know you had that in you.”

“What?” For the first time since escaping the bar, Alyssa actually looked at Emma, instead of exchanging glances and whispers with Pascal like she had when Emma was first lighting the candle.

“Back there,” Emma said, nodding back to the bar. They could still faintly hear the sounds of footsteps, but Emma wasn’t in too big of a hurry. No one had ever found the passage unless Angie wanted them to. “The song.”

At that, Alyssa brightened, looking more like the girl who dragged Emma across the forest. “I didn’t either!” Alyssa said, bouncing along beside Emma. “I can’t believe it worked!”

“It got us out of a tight place.” Emma paused. “I uh– I respect that.” 

“Oh, really?” Alyssa grinned, nudging Emma’s arm with her elbow. “Glad I could save the day.”

Alyssa seemed content to leave it at that, but well, it was  _ Emma’s _ fault that Alyssa needed to do anything. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t’ve tried to scare you away. It was wrong.” 

“It’s fine.” Alyssa said, her surprise showing on her face. She seemed pleased that Emma had apologized though, and when they fell into silence the tension from before had faded. It was peaceful, the sound of footsteps echoing in the cave mixing with the squeaking of the lantern swinging. When Emma looked over again, Alyssa was messing with her dress and listening intently to Pascal’s squeaking. 

Since they left the tower, Emma hadn’t had a lot of chances to just look at Alyssa, so she took the chance to observe her while she was distracted with Pascal. 

There was no doubt that Alyssa was beautiful, even in her plain purple dress with no shoes on, but more than beautiful she was  _ bright _ . In the candle light of the bar Alyssa had seemed to glow, and the light from the lantern was no different, reflecting off of Alyssa’s hair and giving her brown eyes soft, gold undertones. She looked alive in a way she hadn’t in the tower, though that could have something to do with her enthusiasm as they got closer and closer to the lanterns. 

They just had to survive long enough to get there.

“Soo, Emma” Alyssa began, startling Emma out of her thoughts. “Where are you from?”

“Sorry, Princess. I don’t tell that story,” Emma said quickly, cutting off the topic before it could begin. The last thing she needed was to wallow in her past with someone she met 6 hours ago. Although if they were talking about backstories, Emma would be willing to bet money that Alyssa’s was far weirder. “However, I am pretty interested in yours.”

“You are?” Alyssa asked, crossing her arms and looking at Emma like a challenge.

“Now, I’m sure I’m not supposed to mention the tower?” Emma began.

“Nope.” Alyssa shook her head.

“Or the mother?”

“No.”

“Or the lack of shoes?”

“Uh-uh.”

“And frankly, I’m a little scared to ask about the frog.” Emma pointed at Pascal, who glared at her.

“Chameleon,” Alyssa corrected, patting Pascal on the back until he stopped glaring at Emma and laid down on her shoulder.

“So here’s my question: if you want to see the lanterns so badly, why haven’t you gone before?” The question had been gnawing at her ever since they left the bar. Alyssa had proved that she was incredibly competent. At this point, Emma’s only purpose was to be a map, and it’s not like Alyssa was stuck in the tower. She’s the one who showed Emma how to get out.

“Oh, well…” Alyssa trailed off. “It’s compli–”

“THERE SHE IS!” The tunnel behind them lit up, with five guards running from the way they came.

“Shit shit shit.” Emma grabbed Alyssa’s arm, pulling her along beside her. “Run!”

Luckily, Alyssa was good at following instruction. They both broke into a sprint, Emma doing her best to keep Alyssa in front of her, and make sure her path was clear so she didn’t hurt her feet. Emma leapt over a large rock on her side of the tunnel, forcing herself to run faster. She could hear the guards running behind them; every once in a while, one of the guards would yell for her to stop, but she just made herself run faster. 

They finally reached the edge of the tunnel and grinded to a halt. It would’ve been convenient if Emma had remembered that the tunnel went through the gorge right next to the dam, and that in order to get from one side of the tunnel to the other, you had to make your way down to the ground from a four story ledge.

“Emma!” Alyssa yelled, pointing down the bottom of the gorge where Kaylee and Shelby had just burst out of another leg of the tunnel. Kaylee caught sight of Emma and twirled her ax around, glaring up at her. “Who’s that?”

“Uh, they don’t like me.” Emma said, backing away from the edge and back towards the tunnel. She blatantly remembered that that might not be the best idea, when a crowd of guards burst out.

“Who’s that?” Alyssa asked, clutching Emma’s shoulder.

“They don’t like me!” Emma said, searching for another way out. 

There was commotion behind the guards and Greg burst forward, sword drawn. “EMMA!” 

“Who’s that?”

Emma groaned, grabbing Alyssa by the shoulders and gesturing around the canyon. “Okay. Let's just assume that  _ everybody _ here  _ does not like me.” _

“I don’t like you.” Alyssa muttered, clearly annoyed by Emma’s dramatics. All at once her eyes widened, and she shoved the frying pan into Emma’s hands. “Duck!”

If nothing else, Emma could follow simple instructions. She quickly dropped into a crouch, holding the frying pan above her head. A sword clanged against it and when Emma looked up the captain of the guard was standing above her. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”

Not surprising considering the sheer number of times Emma had robbed his family.

The captain swung his sword at her again, and she instinctively dodged with the frying pan. It wasn’t actually that different from a sword. Emma looked between the frying pan and the exasperated look on the captain’s face. 

“You know what, I can work with this.” Emma grinned and swung out with the pan, nailing the captain’s right shoulder and causing him to drop the sword. She ducked down and kicked out his legs in a move similar to the one she had used on Greg, what felt like ages ago, sending him spiraling on the ground. Behind her, Alyssa had found a narrow beam that stretched from the ledge they were on to a lower one that connected to stairs and was making her way across. Emma made quick work of the other three guards, using the frying pan to disarm them then knocking them to the ground.

“I don’t suppose you’ll just give up this time?” Greg asked, sliding between Emma and the beam that was her only exit.

“Nice try,” Emma said, lifting the frying pan. As much as she didn’t want to fight Greg again (or at all) he was really giving her no choice. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen the error of your ways yet?”

Greg launched forward with a growl, going on the offense just like he always did when they were kids. Emma barely got the pan up in time, intercepting the sword with a clang that rumbled up to her elbow. He didn’t give her any time to recover, bringing the sword down over and over again to the point that it was nearly making her dizzy. “Why do you always do this? You’re fighting against the kingdom,  _ our home _ , and for what? A crown? And then you have the audacity to act like I’m in the wrong!”

“Things aren’t always black and white!” Emma argued, dodging a particularly brutal swing aimed at her leg. Greg had changed so much, her best friend was gone in so many ways. “And  _ that _ isn’t my home anymore!”

“Oh, yeah, because you left!” Greg laughed humorlessly, pointing the sword at Emma’s face. “You left your home behind!”

_ You left me behind _ goes unsaid, but Emma hears it anyway, and it hurts. She did consider bringing Greg along after she got kicked out, had gone and stood under his window for hours in the dark, trying to pull herself together enough to either go upstairs or to turn and leave. In the end, she hadn’t wanted to drag Greg down, even back then he was bound to be successful. If she’d known the things she knows now she would’ve dragged him out in a heartbeat rather than letting him become a lapdog to the royal family. Maybe there was still time. “So I get that you’re feeling betrayed,” Emma ducked under a particularly aggressive attack. “But can I offer you some advice?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Great so–” Emma intercepted another hit with the frying pan, considering what exactly she wanted to say. It would be no use to tell Greg that he was wrong. He was already mad at her, so she needed him to figure it out on his own. “Next time you have some free time, get out of that stupid uniform and go walk around the lower rings of the kingdom. Get to know some people, learn about their lives.” It used to be their thing when they were kids, sneaking out of the house to explore all the nooks and crannies of the kingdom, and if Emma had to guess, Greg hadn’t continued it after Emma left.

“Are you really giving me homework?” Greg yelled, clearly annoyed by Emma’s antics. “I’m about to capture you!”

Emma snorted and intercepted the sword again. “You aren’t going to capture me but okay.”

In truly unfortunate timing, just as Emma finished speaking, Greg knocked the frying pan from her hands and sent it flying down into the gorge. Greg smirked in a look reminiscent to when he would beat Emma when they raced as children. “What were you saying?”

“Best two out of three?” Emma risked a glance behind her where Alyssa had made it across to the next landing and was looking nervously between Emma and Greg, and Kaylee and Shelby who were making their way up the old staircase. “Any ideas, Princess?” Emma called, keeping the edge of her vision on Greg’s sword right by her throat.

“It’s a shame you’re dragging her down with you” Greg observed, reaching for the handcuffs with his free hand. “She seems like a nice girl.”

Alyssa was looking more and more agitated, shifting her weight and searching the canyon for a way out. She angrily kicked a stone off of the ledge and into the canyon below, throwing out her arms. “EVERYONE STOP!” 

Emma watched in shock as a burst of light came from both of Alyssa’s hands. One of them exploded between Kaylee and Shelby sending them flying off the stairway and into the mud, and the other hit Greg in the back. Emma just had enough time to take in his shocked expression before he went flying into the wall of the canyon. It was weird as shit, but Emma was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. She quickly made her way across the beam, kicking it off the side of the ledge so that Greg wouldn’t be able to follow. Alyssa was staring in shock at her hands, holding them away from her body. “Have you always been able to do that?”

“Uh, not exactly?” Alyssa said, looking lost. She shook her hands a little, but seemed satisfied that they weren’t going to explode again. “Hopefully that’s a one time occurrence.”

“Well–” Emma began, only to be interrupted by loud pounding noises. Greg and the rest of the guards had apparently recovered, from the frying pan and the magic blast. He was directing them to a large beam attached to the dam, and it almost looked like they were going to knock it down, despite that fact that it was clearly an important part of the dam structure. “They wouldn’t...”

Alyssa stared at the dam “Are they going to–”

“I think so.” Emma agreed, she gestured to the tunnel continuation. “We should–”

“Yep,” Alyssa grabbed Emma’s arm and they ran to the stairway, making their way along the edge of the canyon. They made it to the last platform when there was a large cracking noise, followed by the sound of water. Emma didn’t even need to turn around to know that the idiots had just broken the dam.

“Not so fast, Nolan!” Kaylee came out of nowhere, blocking their path to the tunnel. She was holding a large knife, and her wrists still held the remnants of handcuffs. “I told you. You don’t want me as an enemy.”

“I really don’t have time for this,” Emma groaned. The rushing water was getting louder. They needed to get to the tunnel. 

All of a sudden the expression on Kaylee’s face shifted from anger to fear, and a shadow fell over them. The water from the dam had hit one of the large pillars of rock standing in the middle of the gorge, and it was about to fall. Alyssa grabbed Emma’s arm in a deathlock and broke into a sprint. “Run!”

Emma was not about to disagree. The shadow continued growing, but Emma forced herself to keep her eyes on the tunnel. They just had to get a little bit closer. Once they got inside they would be home free and Greg, Kaylee, and Shelby wouldn’t be able to follow. Emma could feel the rock falling, hanging over her head promising a painful death if she was too slow. Alyssa stumbled a little and Emma quickly pushed her forward into the cave, so that at least one of them wouldn’t get crushed. She could hear the wind rushing past her ears, and her instincts were telling her that she was 0.4 seconds away from doom, so Emma dove the last few feet into the cave, grabbing the frying pan at the last second when the water pushed it into her path.

Behind her the rock crashed to the ground, sealing them in the tunnel. Realistically Emma knew that they should get moving, and that there was water coming through the cracks and rushing all over the floor, but she needed a second to lay face down on the ground, clutching the frying pan to her chest. She was breathing heavily from the running and the adrenaline was telling her to run in a circle, so she spent her time on the ground, breathing, and appreciating the fact that she didn’t get crushed by a pillar of rock.

“Hey, Emma.” Alyssa called. Emma sat up and attempted to locate Alyssa in the dark.

–Wait, dark?

Emma shot to her feet and looked around, grabbing onto Alyssa’s arm. “Where’s the tunnel?” Alyssa didn’t answer, just stared at the door they had come through, now blocked by rock with water pouring through the edges. “Alyssa, where is the tunnel?!”

Alyssa remained quiet for a second longer before turning to Emma, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “I don’t know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....well
> 
> how are we feeling?


	6. the cave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is one of my favorites and its also the chapter where i sent it to ellis to beta read and they informed me that i had switched to using too much punctuation.
> 
> tw for risk(?) of drowning (idk exactly how to tw it but if you've seen tangled its that scene in the cave) if you want to skip go to the "-------" that marks the first chapter break.

Alyssa couldn’t move; all she could do was watch the water pour into the cave. The water level had reached her knees, and if it continued at the same pace, they would be underwater in minutes.

“No no no nononono.” Emma ran her hands around the edges of the doorway they had come through, pushing against the rock with her shoulder while the water poured onto her head. She moved out of the spray with a gasp, shaking her head and pushing her wet hair out of her eyes. “There needs to be a way out!” She ran to the other end of the cave, bumping into Alyssa’s shoulder on the way past.

Alyssa suddenly realized that she had been holding her breath, and when she took a deep breath in, gasping for air, she remembered how to move. She ran across the cave, climbing up the slight incline to the back and pulling on any rocks that were sticking out, using the frying pan handle to bang on the rock. It was no use; there wasn’t an exit. 

Below her, Emma dove under the water desperately, and when Alyssa went to join her in the water, her feet didn’t touch the ground. Emma swum back to the surface and breathed in before diving back under. Alyssa couldn’t see anything in the water below, but she could feel water moving around her feet. Maybe it was draining somewhere. 

If it was, the drainage was far slower than the water was coming in. The next time Emma came up for air, she didn’t dive back under. 

“It’s too dark. I can’t see a thing.” Emma said, frustrated. She grabbed onto one of the rocks sticking out from the ceiling, pulling on it with all of her weight, only to flinch away, cradling her hand. “Shit.”

They couldn’t just give up. There had to be a way out. Alyssa thought about the current and dove under the water herself. When she opened her eyes everything was pitch black, Emma’s arms caught her around the waist and pulled her back to the surface. “There’s no point. It’s pitch black down there.”

Alyssa pushed her hair out of her face. She was tempted to dive under again, but Emma was right, she couldn’t do anything if she couldn’t see. 

“It can’t…” Alyssa trailed off, letting the cave fall into silence, the only sound the water rushing against the rock. Next to her, Emma looked resigned as she slowly treaded water, she wasn’t even supposed to be here. 

“This is all my fault.” Alyssa muttered. As soon as she said the words, she knew they were true. She was the one who wanted to see the lanterns. She was the one who concocted the plan. She was the one who forced Emma to come with her. 

“Alyssa…” Emma didn’t disagree. She must’ve known that Alyssa was right.

As the water approached her head, Alyssa thought about her mother, so scared of the real world. The only thing she wanted was to keep Alyssa safe, make sure she was happy. 

“She was right. I wasn’t ready.” She wasn’t an adult. She couldn’t do it. 

_ Where was her mother now? What would she do when she got back to the tower and Alyssa wasn’t there? _

Once again, she looked at Emma, who’s eyes were trained on the wall, like she was thinking about something. She deserved something from Alyssa, something to make up for the fact that Alyssa had dragged her to her death. 

“I’m so–” Alyssa realized that she was crying, the tears flooding her vision. She hiccuped a little bit, forcing herself to get the words out. “I’m so sorry, Emma.”

“I got kicked out of the house when I was fourteen,” Emma said quietly. “The guard that keeps chasing us– Greg, he’s my cousin. I think…” She trailed off, it almost seemed like she wasn’t going to finish the sentence. “I think I left him.”

Alyssa had no idea what to say. She had noticed how the guard seemed familiar with Emma, but she hadn’t actually considered it very far beyond trying to keep Emma safe. In theory, she knew that Emma must’ve had a personal history other than just thievery, but she had never really thought to ask, just accepting that Emma didn’t want to talk about it. Now, she wished she had asked. Alyssa’s head was brushing the top of the cave, she could feel the pressure on her hair. There was no use keeping secrets. “I have magic powers that glow when I sing.”

Emma squinted at Alyssa in confusion. “What?”

_ It’s pitch black down there.  _

“I have–”  _ Light. _ “Magic that GLOWS when I sing!” That clearly didn’t clarify anything for Emma, but it didn’t matter because it was a chance, Alyssa quickly began to sing as fast as she could, tilting her face parallel with the ceiling of the cave to optimize her amount of time above water.

_ Flowergleamandglowletyourpowershinemaketh– _ Alyssa kept her eyes closed even after the water was too high for her to keep singing. Usually, the light would stop as soon as she stopped singing, in which case the cave would already be dark again (if it had even gotten the chance to light up), but this time needed to be different. Alyssa did her best to identify the feeling her powers gave her, holding onto it when she opened her eyes. 

For just a second, Alyssa thought it hadn’t worked, her heart sinking to her toes as she accepted what was about to happen, but then, right in front of her face her hand began to glow, the golden light enveloping the cave. Down at the bottom of the cave, there was what appeared to be a hole filled with rocks, and when Alyssa got closer, she could feel the current pulling on her dress. She exchanged a glance with Emma, and they both swam to the bottom of the cave, Emma pulling rocks from the hole while Alyssa moved them far enough away that they wouldn’t roll back in.

After what felt like hours, long after Alyssa had stopped glowing and it felt like her lungs were going to burst, there was finally light in the tunnel. Emma’s hand broke through the final layer of rock, and the rest of the blockade was quick to follow, the water draining from the cave and pulling them into a slow moving river. When Alyssa burst up to the surface of the water, she took a deep breath, savoring the air. 

They were alive.

\-------

Emma crawled out from the water when she reached the shore, lifting her torso onto dry land before collapsing on her face. She had not seen that coming.

She had  _ really _ not seen that coming.

Alyssa reached the shore right next to her, propping her elbows on the land with a laugh. “We made it!”

Emma, still thoroughly invested in her crisis, remained face down on the ground, breathing in the smell of the grass. 

“You glow.” Emma said, trying out the words. This was definitely not happening. Maybe they never actually made it out of the cave, and her brain had invented the glowing in her final seconds before death. Magic powers were most definitely not real, and even if they were,  _ glowing _ was not a real power.

“I’m alive!” Alyssa crawled to her feet on the shore, pumping her fist in the air victoriously. “I’m alive!” Pascal climbed ashore right next to Emma, shaking himself off and staring at Emma.

“I did not see that coming,” Emma muttered, turning her head to look at Pascal. “She actually glows.” Pascal nodded helpfully, clearly unsurprised by the turn of events. Alyssa glowing must’ve been a normal occurrence for him. Emma blatantly realized that she was talking to a chameleon so in hindsight, maybe Alyssa having magic powers wasn’t that out of the blue. 

_ Did she enchant Pascal? Is that why he talked?  _

Emma was supposed to be doing things she really didn’t have time to be having an existential crisis over magic.

Alyssa had finally ceased her celebration and was standing above Emma, clearly hesitant about where they stood. “So…”

And  _ nope _ , Emma was not prepared for that conversation, so she continued directing her attention at Pascal. 

“Why does she glow?” She asked desperately. “There had to be a reason! People don’t just glow for no reason!"

“Emma!” Alyssa interrupted, clearly impatient.

Emma groaned and flipped over onto her back, legs still in the water. “What?”

Alyssa hesitated, “It doesn’t  _ just _ glow.”

“No!” Emma quickly sat up, pointing at Alyssa. “No!” Pascal climbed onto Emma’s leg, staring at her smugly. She pointed at the chameleon on her leg. “Why is he smiling at me?” Emma yelled desperately. Pascal simply raised his eyebrows and pointed to Alyssa, who seemed amused by the situation. Emma blatantly remembered in the gorge, when Alyssa had energy blasted Greg, seemingly by accident. In all the commotion and the near death experience, Emma had forgotten about it. Hopefully that was what Alyssa was going to tell her about.

\------

“I’m going to kill her,” Shelby announced, climbing out of the trapdoor. She and Kaylee were both soaking wet and coughing, having been flooded on their way out of the canyon. It figured that Nolan would wiggle out of their grasp thanks to the stupidity of the palace guards. She offered a hand to Kaylee in order to help her out of the trapdoor and to her feet.

“Fucking Nolan,” Kaylee muttered darkly. “And who on earth was that girl with her?”

It’s not like Nolan had ever been particularly trustworthy, but the betrayal still stung. She couldn’t have stolen the crown without them, and yet, she had left them behind in an instant, just to appear again with a new partner. “It’s weird that she’s even back here. I thought her plan was to get straight out of town.” Shelby paused in consideration “Although, it's a good thing she didn’t since we still have a chance to steal the crown from her.”

“Then we can kill her,” Kaylee offered, twisting up her hair and ringing the water out.

“Where do you think that other tunnel lets out?” Shelby asked. The first thing that had to do was find Nolan, which was easier said than done. Any criminal worth their salt knows that Angie has a tunnel to anywhere worth going. For all they knew, the tunnel was one of the longer ones, and it let out in the middle of the castle.

“Excuse me, girls?”

Shelby spun around, holding her sword in front of her. There was a woman standing above them on a large rock. She didn’t seem to be armed. The only thing in her hands was a bag, though it was possible she was hiding something under her cloak. Shelby didn’t lower her weapon, and next to her, Kaylee seemed to have come to the same conclusion. “What do you want?”

“I want to make a deal.” The woman kept her hands in front of her as she opened the brown bag, casually removing the solstice crown from within. Shelby exchanged a glance with Kaylee. It made no sense for this random woman to have the crown, but now that she knew what was inside the brown satchel looked exactly like the one Emma carried. They both raised their weapons higher preparing to attack. “Oh, there’s no need for that.” To Shelby’s shock, the woman put the crown back into the bag and tossed it down to Kaylee.

“What’s the catch?” Shelby asked. Nothing came without a price, especially when it was as valuable as the crown.

“No catch. If that’s all you want, you can be on your way.” The woman said, waving them off casually. “I was going to offer you something even more valuable, but it’s no problem. Just take your little crown.”

“What were you going to offer?” Kaylee asked suspiciously, rising to the bait.

The woman smiled, clearly well aware that she had their attention and confident they would take the offer. “Revenge on Emma Nolan.”


	7. in the light of the campfire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> love how i keep posting one day later despite the fact that i have chapters finished super far in advance. as you've probably guessed consistency is not my strong suit. 
> 
> once again shout out to ellis (ifthebookdoesntsell) for being a superb beta reader!

“So you’re being strangely cryptic as you hold my injured hand,” Emma said hesitantly, watching Alyssa carefully. She most definitely did not want magic blasts anywhere near her, considering what they did to Greg. Alyssa didn’t respond, just continued holding Emma’s hand with a tentative smile. “This feels like I’m a 12 year old on a first date.” Emma continued, doing her best to fill the silence (she had never liked silence; it reminded her of her parents house). Alyssa continued to smile at her suspiciously. “This isn’t a first date, right? Because you’re cute and all, but I don’t think I can deal with–” Emma gestured vaguely to try to capture the glowing ( _ and _ the tower,  _ and _ the emoting chameleon,  _ and _ the magic) “–all of that.”

Alyssa slapped Emma on the shoulder hard enough to hurt. “Shut up.”

“I’m already injured!” Emma objected. She tried to pull her hand away from Alyssa to rub her arm but was unsuccessful.

“Just uh…” Alyssa trailed off, her face serious again. Apparently, they were back on the hand injury, probably a good thing considering the blood hadn’t slowed since Emma cut it. “Don’t freak out?”

She began to sing, just like she had done in the cave.

_ Flower gleam and glow _

_ Let your powers shine _

The glowing began in Alyssa’s chest, before it began to gradually spread over the rest of her body. It was breathtaking. Emma had technically seen it before, but, at the time, she was panicking, and it was underwater. She hadn’t had time to take in the way the light radiated from Alyssa’s skin in a golden glow, or the way even her hair looked alight, the colors shifting like she was on fire. 

_ Heal what has been hurt. _

_ Change the fates design…  _

Emma completely forgot about her injured hand. Instead, she watched Alyssa sing. Her voice was beautiful, soft and warm like a light summer’s breeze. Emma wanted nothing more than to listen to her sing forever, with the golden light shining on her face. It was like looking at the sun. Alyssa was brilliant, her light was no different from the sunlight that fell through the trees during the day. It reminded her of simpler times, of playing in the woods with Greg and her grandmother’s chocolate chip cookies. 

_ Bring back what once was mine. _

_ What once was mine. _

All too soon, the song was over, and their camp fell back into darkness, the only light coming from the small campfire that was slowly getting brighter. Alyssa let go of her hand, and Emma couldn’t help but mourn the loss of contact. Alyssa looked at her expectantly, and she blatantly remembered that Alyssa was showing her something. She cautiously looked at her hand, half expecting it to be glowing or on fire, but it looked fine.  _ Wait. _ It was too fine, the large cut that Emma had gotten from the rock was gone. Emma jumped to her feet with a yelp. “WHA–”

“Don’t freak out!” Alyssa said quickly, pulling Emma back down to sit next to her on the log.

Emma took a deep breath, stifling her shock until she was able to make real words. “I’m not freaking out. Are you freaking out?” She rambled, the words tight and strained.  _ What the fuck _ . “That’s just ah– interesting. That’s interesting!” Emma tapped her foot on the ground to expel her energy, doing her best not to look at her magically healed hand. “I'm very interested in uh–  _ you _ and all the magical qualities that you may or may not possess,” she said helplessly, doing her best to rationalize what had just happened. She needed more information. That was the problem. Maybe if she understood  _ why _ Alyssa glows, she would feel less inclined to freak out. “Uh… how long exactly has it been doing–” Emma gestured vaguely again– “that?”

At that, Alyssa brightened up, clearly a little surprised by Emma’s interest. 

“Oh. Well, forever, I guess.” All of a sudden, her face clouded over, in a way reminiscent of when they had first left the tower. “My mom said that when I was a baby people tried to take me. They wanted to use the power for themselves,” Alyssa said quietly. 

That explained… a lot more than Emma wanted to admit. She could almost see baby Alyssa sitting by the window of the tower, five years old and watching the lanterns light up the sky, too scared to see them in person. She had been expecting many things out of this “road trip” as Alyssa had called it, but she definitely hadn’t been expecting the burst of pride and respect she was feeling, as she thought about how Alyssa had chosen to leave, despite everything telling her not to.

“A gift like that…” Alyssa trailed off, looking at the sky instead of Emma’s face. “It needs to be protected.” She said the words like she was echoing someone else, probably the mom that Emma had heard so much about. “That’s why mom never let me– why I never left the…”

“You never left the tower,” Emma finished. She could understand rules. After all, her parents’ house was drowning in them, but when it came down to it, she couldn’t really understand  _ Alyssa _ . Emma had never felt the sense of obligation and love to her parents that Alyssa clearly did. She had spent her early teenage years sneaking out of the house and breaking every rule her parents had ever laid out, whereas even now, out in the world, Alyssa was still clearly carrying around her guilt for leaving. It was plain to see in the way her face darkened when she talked about her mother and in her insistence that Emma was going to bring her back to the tower. “Are you still going to go back?” Emma asked quietly, a little scared of whatever Alyssa’s answer was going to be.

“No,” Alyssa said firmly, only to instantly rethink what she had just said. “Or… yes?” She twisted her hands in her dress, nervously biting her lip. “It’s complicated.”

_ Maybe you could convince her to stay. _ The traitorous side of Emma’s brain whispered. It was a ridiculous thought. She didn’t even  _ like _ Alyssa. Sure, she respected her, and she had saved Emma’s butt at least three times (even if it was technically her fault they had gotten into the situations in the first place), but Emma worked alone, she didn’t do attachments like that. She knew from experience that it just led to disappointment. 

_ Maybe Alyssa would stay. _

“So,” Alyssa broke the silence, leaning closer to Emma. “About what you said in the cave…”

“I’ll have you know that was just a one time thing. I thought I was going to die,” Emma informed her, leaning away from Alyssa’s curious gaze. “I’ll spare you my sob story.”

Alyssa wasn’t deterred, shuffling over on the log to make up the space Emma had put between them. In the firelight, her eyes seemed to glow, changing with the strokes of the fire, making Emma want to spill everything, so Emma did her best not to look her in the eye. “C’mon, Emma. I want to know. And I’m a good listener.”

Alyssa put her hand over Emma’s where it was resting on her knee, and her resolve crumbled. It only took her a few seconds to figure out where to start, and then she was off.

“I grew up in the city, right by the castle. My parents were nobles; my father was only 8 steps away from the king, which is kinda a big thing,” Emma began, doing her best to give Alyssa enough background information, considering she had no first hand experience. “It means if the right 8 people die, then my dad would assume the throne, since he’s technically ‘family.’ Greg, the guard, is my cousin. He lived next door, so we basically grew up together. He was my best friend, my partner in crime, we did everything together,” she continued, doing her best to avoid the more painful memories. “When I was fourteen, I met Carrie. Her mom was our chef so she would occasionally stop by with herbs and vegetables. She was amazing. We would spend hours just talking. One day, when she was dropping off some basil, I leaned over and…” Emma glanced at Alyssa, trying to decide exactly how much to say. “I kissed her.”

“Oh,” Alyssa whispered, her face flickering through emotions too fast for Emma to comprehend. She didn’t run away, or make her excuses and move away. Instead, she remained seated, keeping her hand on Emma’s own.

When it was clear that Alyssa wasn’t going to say anything else, Emma continued her story. She talked slowly, doing her best not to wallow in the past. “For a few seconds, everything was amazing, but then my mom came running out of the house, yelling at me.” She shrugged a little, doing her best to seem unbothered. “My mom– she had seen us from the window, and she was not happy.” 

“Why not?” Alyssa asked, confused. 

_ Right, no background knowledge. _

Emma scrambled to explain, doing her best to break down the more complicated aspects of being nobility in a way Alyssa would understand. “Oh, uh, it’s not like, illegal to be gay or anything, but my parents had these ideas y’know? The noble families are supposed to be the best of the best, if you’re lucky enough to be born a noble, you marry another noble and have children, or you risk upsetting the balance. That, compared with the fact that I had already been expressing my…” Emma tried to find words for  _ I didn’t believe that the king was the real king and I thought our economy was unfair and fucked up. _ “... Distaste for how the kingdom was run, was enough for my parents to disown me. They gave me 20 minutes to pack a bag, and kicked me out, told me to never come back.”

“Where did you go?” Alyssa asked softly, tightening her hold on Emma’s hand.

“For a while, I didn’t go anywhere. I stayed in the city and lived on the streets. Greg and I had gotten pretty good at sneaking around, so pickpocketing came easy to me,” Emma explained. It wasn’t a time she liked to remember, too many cold nights, watching the light in Greg’s window, wondering if it was worth it to knock, or if Greg would turn her away on the spot.

Emma had been talking for so long that she was half expecting Alyssa to tell her to shut up or get to the point, but she just looked interested. She opened her mouth, only to hesitate, clearly rethinking her question. “If you don’t mind me asking. How did you meet Angie?”

“Oh.” She hadn’t been expecting that, even though it had only been hours since they were at the bar, Emma had mostly forgotten that Alyssa met Angie. “Greg and I knew her, back when we would sneak out of the house we’d occasionally visit her bar if we had time. I eventually went to the Snuggly Duckling and Angie gave a job as a waitress and let me sleep in her breakroom.” The snow was what had finally driven Emma off the streets, had finally forced her to accept that her parents weren’t going to take her back “She took me in, taught me everything I needed to know in order to stay alive. I was maybe going to stay there, but it didn’t work out.”

When she first arrived, Angie agreed that she could stay for the winter, but she would need to find her own path in the spring, but as more time went on, she fell into a schedule and the idea of leaving seemed less and less promising. “I didn’t notice until I’d been there for a while, but Angie was always holding me at arms length, like at a certain point she wasn’t willing to let me get any closer. So I left, and I started planning to steal– well, the crown.”

“Sorry, about that,” Alyssa said, not looking very sorry. She seemed to be absorbing everything and Emma realized that her throat was sore and she had been talking for god knows how long.

“I should be apologizing. I just dropped my entire life story on you.” Emma laughed awkwardly, reaching up to rub the back of her head.

“I asked,” Alyssa reminded her, and  _ huh, yeah she did _ . 

_ What was it about Alyssa that made Emma want to open up to her? _ All it had taken to get Emma talking was for Alyssa to smile at her and ask. “You can’t tell anyone about this, okay?” She did her best to redirect the conversation to something more surface level, as if that would make Alyssa forget about the fact that Emma had just laid bare her entire backstory, everything that made her  _ her _ . “It could ruin my whole reputation.”

“Aww, we wouldn't want that.” Judging by her knowing expression Alyssa saw straight through to what Emma was trying to do (and wasn’t that a scary thought), but she still humored the statement with a response. 

Emma grinned, glad that Alyssa was playing along. “Well you know, the thing about reputation, is that it’s really all that I have right now,”

“You have a lot more than that, Emma Nolan,” Alyssa said, uncomfortably serious as she looked Emma in the eye.

“Uh, well I–” Emma would need to do about four hours of self reflection before she could properly deal with  _ that _ , so she didn’t even try. Her eyes fell on the already dying fire in the center of the clearing and she stood up, looking forward to the chance to think, but also a little sad to be leaving their bubble. “I should get some more firewood,” She explained. Her knee still felt warm from Alyssa’s hand and the realization made her stomach flutter. 

“Okay.” Alyssa didn’t seem bothered by the announcement, probably aware of the dying fire. She just smiled at Emma, holding eye contact until she finally had to turn away to navigate the foliage.

\-------

Alyssa wasn’t exactly sure how to feel as she watched Emma walk away. Emma was… a lot more interesting then Alyssa had realized. She almost wanted to pull her back into the clearing so that they could talk more, but Emma was right about the fire dwindling lower and lower. Pretty soon they would be left in the dark. 

“I thought she’d never leave.”

Alyssa jumped and spun around, coming face to face with her mother. “Mom?” Her mind raced; this wasn’t supposed to happen. Her mom should’ve been halfway across the kingdom by now. She was never supposed to know that Alyssa had left.

“Hello, Alyssa.”

“But this– I was– How did you find me?” Alyssa asked, confused.  _ She _ barely knew where they were! How on earth had  _ her mother _ managed to track them down to the middle of the forest?

“I know people,” her mother said vaguely, stepping father into the clearing. In the dying firelight, Alyssa could tell that her mother was wearing the same clothes she had been wearing the day before (same as Alyssa). Considering that Alyssa and Emma had been walking all day, her mom must not have been far behind.

“What does that even mean?” She could feel Pascal climb onto her shoulder, his small claws digging into her skin through the fabric. The feeling was familiar, so Alyssa did her best to focus on that instead of the anxiety swirling through her body.

“It doesn’t matter. We’re going home, Alyssa.” Mrs. Greene said, taking Alyssa’s hand and trying to pull her back the way she came, but Alyssa stood firm. She wasn’t going back until she saw the lanterns, and even then it was still up in the air. “Now.”

“No,” Alyssa pulled her hand away and stepped back. “You don’t understand.” 

“You’re willfully putting yourself in danger. What else is there to understand?” Mrs. Greene said dismissively.

Alyssa wasn’t going to give up that easily. It wasn’t hard to come up with reasons to stay, she had been cataloguing them the entire time, everytime the guilt threatened to overwhelm her. “I’ve been on the most incredible journey. I’ve seen and learned  _ so much _ ,” Alyssa hesitated, thinking about the cave and the fire and  _ Emma _ . “I even met someone?” 

“Oh, you mean the wanted thief?” Mrs. Greene raised her eyebrows. “I’m so proud.”

Alyssa thought about the way Emma had looked at her in the fire light. “I think she likes me.”

“Likes you? She’s  _ using you _ !” Mrs. Greene exclaimed immediately. She clearly didn’t believe Alyssa considering she hadn’t even considered the idea. Alyssa had been unwaveringly confident in her statement seconds ago, but she could feel doubt creeping in. She shoved it to the side, she wasn’t going to back down again. “I knew you weren’t ready. How can you be so naive as to think she actually  _ likes you _ ?”

“Why is that so hard for you to believe that?” Her mother may have been right in the past, but Alyssa was an adult now. She had seen the world, and she was beginning to question if her mother was actually right.

“I assume she knows about your powers?” Alyssa was so thrown by the change in direction that she just nodded silently. Mrs. Greene laughed humorlessly “Of course she does.”

“What does this have to do with anything?” Alyssa interrupted, anxious to get to the point already. “I already told you: Emma is real.”

“Fine. If you’re so confident, give her this.” Mrs. Greene said, pulling out the crown that Alyssa had hidden in the pot what felt like ages ago. “This is why she’s here. As soon as you give it to her, she’ll turn on you. You’ll be begging me to come to the rescue.”

Alyssa looked at the crown, the sun design staring up at her from her hands. _Was her mother right? Would Emma leave as soon as she had the crown?_ **No.** “I trust her.”

“Then put her to the test.” Mrs. Greene plucked the crown from her hands and put it in the satchel, which she slipped over Alyssa’s head. “Or you could just come home with me now?”

“No. I’ll give it to her.” She wasn’t going back. Emma wasn’t going to turn on her.  _ She wouldn’t _ .

“When she leaves you, I’ll still be here.” Mrs Greene said, before disappearing into the trees as fast as she had appeared.

“So, hey. Can I ask you something?” Emma’s voice echoed from behind her and Alyssa hurried to hide the satchel behind the log. She would give it to her… eventually. It just wasn’t the right time. She wasn’t afraid. “Is there any chance that I’m going to get, like, super strength in my hand?” Emma dropped a pile of sticks on the ground and kneeled next to the fire pit. “Because I'm not going to lie, that would be stupendous.” When Alyssa didn’t answer, Emma looked up at her from the ground. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, sorry, yes.” Alyssa had been pulling on her dress again, so she forced herself to drop it, smoothing her hands over the rumpled fabric and sitting back on the bench. “I’m just lost in thought.”

“Okay.” Emma didn’t seem totally convinced, but she continued with the fire. “I mean, I know someone as wonderful as myself, doesn’t necessarily need cool powers.” Emma flipped her short hair and smiled when Alyssa laughed. “But they’re still cool! Like, superhuman strength? Ooh, or super speed! Just imagine all the possibilities!”

Alyssa settled in on the log, watching Emma feed the fire and listening to her rambling. Even with the dark cloud that was the satchel hanging over her head, it was still a perfect moment. Alyssa wanted to stay in the firelight forever, never having to deal with the satchel or her mother ever again.


	8. the solstice festival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alyssa turned back to Emma who had somehow gotten frosting smeared on her nose. “You have a little–” She gestured to her own nose to try to show Emma where to wipe.
> 
> “Huh?” Emma frowned, wiggling her frosting covered nose. “I have what?”
> 
> “Here.” Before she could overthink it too much Alyssa reached out and wiped the blue frosting from Emma’s nose, licking it from her finger. “Frosting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did someone order greg and emma bickering followed by 2k words worth of lesbian activity? good because thats what this chapter is.
> 
> as usual shoutout to ellis for being a great beta reader!

Emma woke up to the feeling of… water? Dripping on her face. 

_ Drip. Drip. Drip. _

She rubbed her face and turned onto her side, doing her best to ignore the annoying sensation. 

_ Dripdripdripdrip. _

She reluctantly cracked one eye open, examining Greg where he was hovered directly above her face, glaring at her and dripping wet. The water was coming from the decorative feather on the top of his incredibly crooked helmet, though the rest of him was equally soaking wet.

“Well,” Emma began, not even giving him the satisfaction of sitting up. “I hope you’re here to apologize.”

Greg rolled his eyes and grabbed her by the arm to pull her to her feet. “I’m clearly here to arrest you.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who decided to make a hole in a perfectly functional dam,” Emma said, pulling her arm out of his grasp. Sure, there was a lot of guilt tied up in her relationship with Greg, but the self actualization she had done, compared with the fact that he almost killed them, ensured that her guilt level was somewhere down there with Greg’s dryness.

“That was necessary procedure to capture a highly wanted criminal.”

“ _ Capture _ is a strong– AHHH.” In a smooth motion that Emma, realistically, should’ve seen coming, Greg swept her off her feet and threw her over his shoulder. “Put me down!” Emma punctuated each word with a fist to Greg’s back (a method that had served her well over the years but was unfortunately made ineffective by Greg’s obnoxious armor).

“Nope!” he said cheerily, spinning around and beginning to walk out of the clearing where she and Alyssa had–  _ Wait. Where was Alyssa? _

“Release her.” Greg stopped mid-step and even though she was looking in the other direction, Emma could practically see the face Alyssa was making as she held her frying pan in Greg’s face. It was her death glare, which basically meant that her nose would be all scrunched up and she would be biting her top lip while she squinted her eyes really hard.

“What is it with you two and that frying pan,” Greg groaned, clearly unimpressed. While he was distracted by Alyssa, Emma did her best to wiggle further over Greg’s shoulder, until her weight unbalanced enough to pull her to the ground. “Hey! Stop that!” Greg grabbed Emma’s boot, desperately trying to pull her back into place, but he was too late and gravity pulled her all the way to the ground, sans-boot.

“Ha!” Emma exclaimed wiggling and rolling over to Alyssa before Greg could grab her again. Usually she would be above hiding behind Alyssa, but she was weaponless (and right shoe-less) and Alyssa was getting good at wielding that frying pan.

“Emma!” Greg attempted to run at her again but Alyssa stepped in between them, holding up her hands like she was trying to tame a wild animal.

“Whoa whoa.” Alyssa said, cautiously setting the pan down and stepping closer. “Calm down. Calm down.” Greg sighed loudly, but complied, crossing his arms and letting Emma’s boot dangle from his hand. “Okay, let’s just–” Alyssa slowly lowered herself into a sitting position, gesturing for Greg to do the same. “Sit down.”

“Fine.” To Emma’s absolute shock, Greg followed her instruction, sitting cross legged in the grass. 

“Can I have the boot?” Alyssa asked, holding out her hand and passing the shoe back to Emma when Greg complied. Emma shoved the boot back on her foot, still looking at Greg suspiciously. “You must be Greg.”

“Yes.” 

If Emma wasn’t seeing it with her own eyes, she never would’ve believed it. Greg was almost being… civil. She made a mental note to add deescalation to things Alyssa was weirdly good at. For the first time since they had been reunited, Greg wasn’t actively attacking her, if anything he looked charmed, watching Alyssa attentively.

“Cool, my name’s Alyssa. I don’t think we’ve officially met since Emma never bothered to introduce us.” 

Emma sputtered, cutting off whatever Alyssa was going to say next. “He was trying to  _ kill _ me!”

“I was trying to  _ capture _ you, Emma,” Greg corrected, giving her the same “I’m right!” face that he used to do when he got better grades in class.

“Why do you always have to be such a know it all?” Emma grumbled, barely resisting the urge to take off her boot again just to throw it at Greg’s head. 

“Shush,” Alyssa said quickly, cutting off whatever Greg was going to respond with. “Now we are going to talk like civilized human beings.”

\-------

Alyssa gave everyone a few minutes to cool off, just to make sure that Greg wasn’t going to go back to attacking them, before trying to reinitiate conversation. “So, Greg, why are you trying to capture Emma?”

“She stole the crown,” Greg said, shooting another glare in Emma’s direction (he was up to about 14 of those).

“Uh-huh.” Alyssa nodded. So the crown was  _ important  _ important; she had suspected so, but Emma had never actually explained it to her. “So you want it back?”

“Wh– Of course I do!” Greg exclaimed, gesturing widely. “It belongs to the royal family.”

“Uh-huh,” Alyssa repeated, Greg’s words sticking in her mind. “You said the royal family, like, they all share it? Exactly whose crown is it?”

“Well…”

“Ha!” Emma interrupted, pointing victoriously at Greg. “It doesn’t belong to any of them!”

“That isn’t true!” Greg yelled, quickly returning to the version of himself that Alyssa had seen at the dam. His crooked helmet fell off with how hard he lurched forward. “It belongs to the royal family!”

“It belongs to the solstice heir!” Emma jumped to her feet, making a move as if she was going to charge, and Greg quickly did the same.

“The solstice heir is born into the royal fam–”

“STOP!” Alyssa held up her hands, cutting off the cousin’s argument and waiting until they were both seated.  _ So that’s clearly a touchy subject. _ It would do them no good if they just resumed chasing each other again. The lanterns were going to go off that night and Alyssa had no idea how far away they were from the launching point. She thought of the crown, hidden underneath the log. Maybe if she gave it to Greg, he would leave them alone? Emma  _ had _ stolen it. Except… Emma seemed very adamant that she had stolen it for the right reasons, and to give it away would be going back on the deal she made, it would be betraying Emma. “You two clearly need to talk some shit out, and this isn’t working.”

“Maybe if Greg wasn’t such a–”

“It’s not my fault Emma–”

“Shut up!” Alyssa interrupted. From the corner of her eye she could see the sun slowly creeping up the sky. “Today is kinda the biggest day of my life, but none of that is going to happen if you two can’t pretend to be civil! Just wait, twenty-four hours, and then I’ll be out of your way and you can chase each other to your heart’s content. How does that sound?”

“Fine,” Greg muttered, reluctantly offering his hand for Emma to shake.

“ _ Fine _ ,” Emma echoed, shaking the offered hand.

“Finally.” Alyssa hopped to her feet and brushed off her dress. “Let’s pack up and get moving!” She eyed Greg’s water logged armor that was dripping with every step he took. “Hopefully we can also get you some new clothes.”

\----------

They reached the outer edge of the city within a few hours of walking, Alyssa bouncing happily along the entire time despite the fact that Emma’s legs felt like they were going to fall off. Alyssa had forced herself between the cousins when they started walking, so every once in a while Emma would shoot a glare in Greg’s direction over her head.

“Whoa.” Alyssa stopped walking, staring up at the castle that sat in the center of the city. While Emma had seen the castle hundreds of times, with the sunlight shining on the blue shingles, she could almost imagine what Alyssa was seeing. As much as she didn’t want to be back in the city, it was worth it to see the amazed look in Alyssa’s eye, and the bright smile that she wore.

“So, Emma,” Greg said, sneaking around Alyssa’s back while she was distracted by the castle. “Why did you steal the crown?”

“Why do you think?” Emma said lightly, confident that Greg wasn’t going to attack her with Alyssa right there. “I’m going to give it to the solstice heir.”

At that Greg perked up, actually looking interested. “You found a solstice heir?”

Emma winced. “Well, not exactly…” That was the overall goal, but solstice heirs weren’t exactly popping up on the side of the road. She wasn’t even sure that any were still alive, considering the rumors about the royal family killing them in order to hold onto power.

“Figures.” Greg rolled his eyes. “This is why I can’t– this is why the royal family needs to stay in charge. You can’t just throw the kingdom into chaos without a real solution.”

“What was that?” Emma asked, leaning closer. It almost sounded like Greg agreed with her to a certain degree, like he had thought about helping her before.

“Shut up,” Greg muttered, shoving past Emma to talk to Alyssa.

He didn’t want to think about taking out the monarchy because there was no one else who could be in charge, but maybe, if Emma showed him how bad things actually were, he would change his mind.

While they continued walking into the city, Emma directed them on a slightly more scenic route, taking them past the old destroyed corner store and down the street that the residents had deemed  _ Worst Street In the Kingdom _ thanks to the frequent crime and potholes in the physical street.

“Does the entire kingdom look like this?” Alyssa asked when they passed the third house that was basically just a pile of rubble. Before Emma could answer, a look crossed her face and she backtracked. “On second thought, I’m just remembering your idea of a “great place for lunch” so don’t answer that.”

“The kingdom has some beautiful architecture thriving neighborhoods, Emma just insists on leading us through the bad parts.” Greg said, sounding every bit the pretentious palace guard that he was.

Emma snorted. Greg really had no idea what the kingdom was like outside of his little bubble. “A. 99% of the kingdom looks like this, you just live in the part with the rich people. B. What, do you want us to go to the stuffy little dinner party the nobles have every year? This isn’t the bad part–” They turned the final corner to the square and Emma stopped walking to let Alyssa and Greg take in the sight. “This is the best part.”

There were people everywhere, kids running around with toys in their hands, adults buying and selling wares from the stands. All of the buildings were covered in banners, depicting the stylized sun that was found in all the history books. They were the same banners that had decorated the square on the last solstice, and the one before that, and the one before that. Once, she had talked to one of the women who owned one of the banners, and she had explained that the fabric had been in her family for decades, kept in peak condition in the hope that it would lead to the return of a solstice heir. 

Emma loved the festival, because it brought out the true colors of the kingdom. The townspeople would shine, holding festivals in every neighborhood to bring together all the citizens, dancing and playing in the square, while the nobles and the royalty sat in the dark in their mansions, eating (frankly horrible) food and talking about how superior they were. It was one of the things Emma had hated most about her family when she still lived with them. She glanced at Alyssa who was looking around with wide eyes, trying to take everything in.

“Welcome to the solstice festival, Princess.”

\--------

Alyssa looked around the crowded square, already overwhelmed by the sheer number of people. Everywhere she looked there were bright colors and mismatched patterns, banners hung all over the square, each depicting a sun design similar to that on the crown. She could see Emma next to her, looking incredibly smug, and Greg who looked just as shocked as Alyssa. It was like nothing she had seen before; the energy in the square was unparalleled. Everyone Alyssa saw looked happy to be there, and there were dancers in the center of the square doing some kind of energetic jig. Before she could decide where to go, three girls appeared in front of her.

“Hello!” The tallest one said, shoving past the other two girls. They all had dark black hair tied up into multiple braids. “You’re really pretty.”

“Um, thanks?” Alyssa tried, unsure of what she was supposed to say in response.

“Are you a princess?” The smallest girl asked. Her hair was the craziest, with a braid on either side of her face and one on top that was falling in her face.

“No.” Alyssa laughed. “Why do you ask?”

“You’re wearing a princess dress!” The smallest girl exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement.

“ _ And _ it’s the solstice festival,” the oldest girl added. “Mom says that the new queen is supposed to appear on the day of the solstice festival.”

“No, she’s supposed to be  _ born _ today,” the middle girl interrupted, pushing her way to the front. She examined Alyssa all businesslike, and pointed at her head. “Can we braid your hair?”

Thrown by the quick subject change, Alyssa didn’t even have time to think about what the girl had said first. She touched her hair, unsure. It was pretty messy from going without a hairbrush for so long… 

“I think Alyssa would love that.” Emma said appearing at her side. She leaned into Alyssa’s space propping her chin onto her shoulder.

“Oh really?” Alyssa asked, a smile dancing on her lips. “Maybe they should braid  _ your _ hair.”

“Excuse you, my hair is perfectly styled so that it never goes in my face,” Emma rustled Alyssa’s hair so that it fell in her face. “Yours on the other hand…”

“I’ll show you messed up hair–” Alyssa began, reaching for Emma’s head, only to remember that they had an audience. The three girls were practically jumping up and down in excitement. They clearly really liked braiding hair, and judging by their own hairstyles, they were at least moderately good at it. “You know, on second thought, you can totally braid my hair.”

“Yes!” The smallest girl immediately grabbed Alyssa by the hand, pulling her over to the fountain. “You won’t regret this!”

\------

Emma stopped the oldest girl (they were Mrs. Thomson’s kids if she remembered correctly) before she could follow her sisters to the fountain. “Hey if I got you some flowers, could you braid them into her hair?” She had some money and wanted to make the day as special for Alyssa as possible.

The girl (Carrie?) grinned at her, clearly excited by the prospect. “Definitely.”

\------

After delivering the flowers to Carrie behind Alyssa’s back, Emma made her way back to where she had left Greg at the edge of the square. “Hey,” she greeted, leaning against the wall next to him. 

“You never actually told me why you left,” Greg said, like it was something he’d been thinking about for a while. “Was it my fault?”

“What? No!” Emma couldn’t imagine how he had come to that conclusion, they were best friends, it wasn’t his fault. “My uh, my parents kicked me out.”

“What?” Now it was Greg’s turn to be confused. “No, they didn’t, whenever I asked they always said that you left.”

“Figures,” Emma muttered. Of course her parents would avoid any scandal by sadding off all the blame onto Emma, when she wasn’t there to defend herself. “They found out I was gay, it was ‘the last straw’” She said the words exactly as her mother had, adding her own exaggerated accent and finger quotes.

“Oh,” Greg leaned back against the wall, staring pensively at the ground. “Why didn’t you bring me with you? I probably would’ve gone.”

“I didn’t want to fuck up your life anymore than I already had,” Emma said, voicing the fears that she had carried that night. Without her there to drag him down, she had thought that Greg would be able to be successful, change things in a more legal manner than Emma’s. It hadn’t occurred to her that he might forget everything they had stood for to become a fucking guard. “I see now, that that maybe wasn’t the best choice.”

“Maybe not.” Emma had been expecting Greg to be offended by her implication that his life sucks, but he just looked pensive, mulling over what Emma had said. “I guess we’ll never know.”

“Nope.” They stood in silence for a while. Peacefully watching over the square. It was nice to be back on semi-familiar footing. 

After a while Greg spoke again. “I think you might’ve been right,”

“Oh, great! I love when that happens! Right about what?” Emma asked, squinting at Greg. Hopefully, it’s one of the many life lessons she had given him.

“When you gave me homework,” Greg explained. In all the commotion afterward, Emma had totally forgotten about that conversation at the dam, a little too distracted by trying not to die, then finding out about Alyssa’s magic powers. “I haven’t been here since you left, and like, I always assumed that it wasn’t actually in as bad a shape as I remembered it, that maybe 14-year-old Greg just got a little too caught up in the little things. They always tell us that everything is fine here, and that the people who complain are just overreacting, and I believed them, despite having seen otherwise.”

Emma was feeling a lot of emotions, most of which she didn’t want to name, so instead of dealing with them, she punched Greg lightly in the shoulder. “Glad I could shatter your lifeview like that.”

“Shut up,” Greg said. Except for the first time since they had been reunited the words weren’t sharp, instead they were just playful.

Emma didn’t want to spoil the moment, but she felt like she should say something. “Sorry, I didn’t bring you with me when I left. I promise, I debated over asking you to come for months, but I didn’t want to make you choose between me and your life.”

“I get it.” Greg nodded. He sounded confident in the words, and Emma couldn’t help but feel like she finally had her cousin back for real.

“Ms. Emma! We’re done!” Carrie’s littlest sister came bursting out of the crowd, grabbing Emma’s hand and pulling her back towards the fountain.

“I’m coming.” She shot an apologetic look at Greg but he just looked entertained by the hijinx.

They weaved through the crowd, Emma offering apologies to any people she bumped into. When they got to the fountain, Alyssa had her back to them as she chatted with Carrie who was sitting on the edge of the fountain. Already, Emma could tell that the girls had done an amazing job, Alyssa’s hair was woven into a fancy braid that fell a little under her shoulder. The flowers Carrie had chosen were various shades of red and purple, with small purple flowers on the edges of the brain and large red lilies in the middle. She thought she was prepared for Alyssa to turn around. She was wrong. “Hey, Prin– uhhhh.”

Alyssa was stunning. When she turned, the momentum sent the braid flying to rest over her shoulder, and in the sunlight of the square Emma could practically see butterflies circling her. The girls had used a different flower on the front of Alyssa’s hair, clumps of small blue flowers with a yellow center–  _ forget-me-nots _ her brain interjected– and they framed her face beautifully. She smiled at Emma, holding the end of the braid with her hand. “Do you like it?”

“You look beautiful,” Emma said honestly. Alyssa’s smile brightened even more.

\---------

Alyssa had taken to dancing as soon as the music started up, pulling people into the square to dance with her. Emma watched from the edge of the crowd, Greg at her side, tracing Alyssa’s path across the dance floor.

“You like her,” Greg observed.

“Yeah, right,” Emma scoffed, ignoring the suggestive look Greg was shooting her way. She didn’t like Alyssa. They were barely even friends. Sure, she thought Alyssa was pretty, and she was nice, and Emma liked spending time with her, but that was all friend stuff! She didn’t have time for romance, and falling in love with Alyssa would just complicate everything.

“I never said you were in love with her,” Greg said smugly. Apparently, she had said that last part out loud.

“Can you go back to being my enemy? That was less annoying.”

“Hmm, I could do that,” Greg considered. “But I was actually thinking I might help you with your stupid plan for the crown. You need some help if I’m going to keep you from messing it up.”

“Wait, really?” Emma could barely believe what she was hearing, but Greg sounded sincere, and he had never been a good liar. “Why the change of heart?”

“I’ve been thinking about everything you said, and I think you’re right about 75% of the time.” Greg explained. Emma would’ve given herself at least an 85, but it didn’t seem worth it to bring that up. “I’m not letting you throw things into chaos just yet, but I think if we work together we could find the solstice heir.”

“That's…” Emma carefully considered Greg’s offer. She wanted things to change quickly, and finding the solstice heir would take forever (if it was even possible), but she also could see where Greg was coming from, and it might be a worthwhile compromise if it meant Greg was going to be on her side. She glanced to the side, at her cousin and best friend. She really didn’t want to lose him again, and his idea was probably more sensible in the long run. He was watching her, waiting for an answer, so Emma took a deep breath and forced her mouth to move. “Okay.”

“Okay.” Greg repeated, looking pleased.

“Emma!” Alyssa called from where she was dancing in the square. Once she had Emma’s attention she waved at her to come join in.

“No thanks!” Emma said, shaking her head. She had done her maximum amount of dancing in 24 hours what with the whole musical number they had done at the bar. Alyssa waved more aggressively, the smile not leaving her face.

Suddenly something pushed her from behind, sending Emma stumbling right into Alyssa. When she turned around Greg was grinning smugly, he clearly wasn’t going to let go of his idea that Emma had a crush on Alyssa. “Go get her!”

\----------

They were dancing in the square, a fast dance that mostly involved galloping from one person to the next and spinning. On the next pass, Alyssa found herself face to face with Emma, their momentum having carried them back together for the end of the song. Alyssa was breathing heavily from the dance, and she could feel Emma’s breath on her face. From this close, Alyssa could see all the flecks of green and yellow in Emma’s eyes. 

A new song started up in the background, and they both pulled away with a laugh to continue dancing.

\---------

“I have a surprise!” Emma exclaimed, popping up behind Alyssa where she was examining one of the murals on the edge of the square. Her hands were both tucked behind her back and she was grinning smugly.

“Oh?” Alyssa asked, following along. “What is it?”

“Cupcakes!” Emma said, revealing her hands and two cupcakes with blue frosting and a small sun candy. She handed one to Alyssa who plucked the sun candy off of the top, letting it dissolve in her mouth.

“Thank you.” It made her feel warm that Emma had thought of her. She had always liked Emma, but it was like something had shifted recently. Emma was going out of her way to improve Alyssa’s day; it almost made her want to give the satchel back, to confirm that Emma was there to stay.

“Shit.” Emma pulled Alyssa into a small alcove. The cupcakes held between them. Outside a couple of guards walked by, armor clanking loudly. They stayed silent for a little longer, making sure they weren’t coming back. “That was close.” 

Alyssa snorted softly when she turned back to Emma who had somehow gotten frosting smeared on her nose. “You have a little–” She gestured to her own nose to try to show Emma where to wipe.

“Huh?” Emma frowned, wiggling her frosting covered nose. “I have what?”

“Here.” Before she could overthink it too much Alyssa reached out and wiped the blue frosting from Emma’s nose, licking it from her finger. “Frosting.”

Emma’s eyes widened comically, looking between Alyssa and her hand, before schooling her expression into something more teasing. “I’ll show you frosting.” She scooped some of the frosting off of her cupcake and smeared it on Alyssa’s cheek.

“Rude,” Alyssa said, trying to look angry. It clearly wasn’t working because Emma just looked amused– that is, until Alyssa plucked her cupcake from her hand to stick it on her face.

They continued their frosting war, laughing the entire time and when they finally exited the alcove their faces were both covered in blue.

\--------

Alyssa stopped midstep, her attention caught by one of the storefronts. It was an art store, and through the window she could see hundreds of paints of all different colors and shades. She stood with her nose inches from the glass, taking in everything when a hand tapped her on the shoulder. 

Emma grinned at her, holding out a hand. “I bet it’s even cooler inside.”

Alyssa smiled back and took Emma’s hand, dragging her into the shop where the woman behind the counter greeted them. She immediately made a beeline for the wall of paints, admiring all of the sections until she reached the browns and yellows. She examined Emma standing beside her, focusing specifically on her eyes. She wanted to remember this trip later, and the best way to do that would be to paint it before it disappeared from her mind. “If I was going to paint you, I would use this one–” She pulled one of the paints off the shelf holding it up next to Emma who was blushing before grabbing another. “–and this one.”

“Why would you paint me?” Emma asked, ducking her face behind her hair, clearly embarrassed by Alyssa’s analysis.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

\--------

Emma and Alyssa sat in the middle of the bookstore, atlases and art books laid out on the floor around them. They both were hovering over one of the atlases, compiling a list of places Alyssa wanted to see. As Emma watched Alyssa talk about the ocean, and the different types of animals she could see from the tower, she couldn’t help but wonder if Greg’s had been right. 

Maybe she did like Alyssa.

\--------

Alyssa was finishing off another dance number when music abruptly stopped, causing all of the dancers to look at the band.

Voices overlapped as people began circulating a message to everyone in the square. “It’s starting soon! Get to the boats!”

Emma appeared at her side, looking relaxed and pleased. She offered her arm to Alyssa, who took it hesitantly. “You ready to go?”

“Why do we need to go to the boats?” Alyssa asked curiously. Not everyone was leaving the square; she could see some teenagers climbing onto the roof of the bookstore, and families setting up blankets in the now empty square.

Emma pointed to the sky that had fallen to a dark indigo while they had been dancing. It would be a beautiful contrast for a yellow lantern. “How else are we supposed to see your dream?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have noticed that you all are not big on commenting (which fair enough) so i would like to offer that you could instead reblog [ the tumblr post I have linked](https://izzy-mccalla.tumblr.com/post/640245260538281984/all-at-once-everything-looks-different-by) if you are enjoying this fic? it gives me just as much joy and that way you don't have to use the scary comment box!


	9. the floating lights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That isn’t going to happen,” Emma said confidently. After a second of consideration she reached across the boat and put her hand over Alyssa’s. “It’s going to be everything you dreamed it would be.”
> 
> “But, what if it is? What do I do then?” Alyssa had never thought this far ahead, and now, the future was terrifying. She had no idea what she was going to do next; her checklist ended here.
> 
> “That’s the best part,” Emma insisted. Her eyes sparkled when she smiled playfully, gesturing to the open water surrounding them. “Then you can find a new dream.”

Alyssa gasped as soon as they turned the corner and she saw where Emma had been leading her. She could feel Emma’s hand on her back, the warmth bleeding through to her skin. They approached the docks on the edge of the lake, calm and surprisingly empty considering how many boats were on the water. Greg was standing on the closest dock, right in front of a small wooden row boat tied to the dock. 

“Is that...” She trailed off, overcome by the emotions thrumming through her veins. The sky was beginning to darken, meaning that the lanterns would be set off soon. Alyssa would’ve been perfectly content to stay on the streets they had been dancing on earlier, her vision partially obstructed by the buildings, but Emma had gone above and beyond that.

“Thanks, Greg.” Emma removed the frying pan that was stuck in her belt, and handed it to Greg. “Could you hold onto this for me?”

“Are you sure?” Greg asked, holding the pan with two fingers.

Emma glanced around the darkened dock. “You probably need it more than I do.”

“Okay.” Greg nodded to the boat below them. “Have fun.”

Alyssa couldn’t help but be impressed by the fact that they were working together. Somehow they had worked out some kind of truce and Greg had clearly been involved in Emma’s plan for the boat. Alyssa made a mental note to thank him after. Emma carefully stepped down into the boat and shook her hair out of her face. When she held out a hand Alyssa couldn’t help but remember when Emma had stood in a similar position, telling her to jump. “Ready?”

_ Can I give you a hint, Princess? _

Alyssa stepped closer, taking Emma’s hand but making no move to climb into the boat. “Ready for what?”

Emma’s smile was wide and genuine, with a hint of something that Alyssa would almost call love. “Ready to live your dream.”

_ Sometimes, you just need to jump. _

Alyssa stepped into the boat in front of Emma, yelping when it tilted to the side. Before she could lose her balance Emma’s arms wrapped around her waist, holding her steady (Emma was always steadying her).

“Whoa,” Emma muttered, not making any move to pull away. Her face was inches from Alyssa’s, if she just leaned forward they would be kissing. Alyssa could feel a blush rising to her cheeks, and she could see the same thing happening to Emma. She was close enough that she could feel Emma’s breath on her face and could’ve counted Emma’s freckles. 

Alyssa giggled a little bit, doing her best to stifle the sound, but something about the situation was absurd and she couldn’t stop laughing. Emma looked confused for a second before bursting into laughter herself, her eyes crinkling adorably. Alyssa carefully sat down on the bench, taking deep breaths to try to calm her laughter. After a few seconds, she managed to get enough of a handle on herself to speak. “So, now what?”

“Now, we paddle,” Emma announced, pulling two wooden paddles from beneath the seat. Her voice was bright from laughter, and when she handed the paddle to Alyssa, their hands brushed.

As they paddled out to the center of the lake, the gravity of the situation finally began to sink in, and Alyssa found herself fidgeting nervously as soon as the pulled to a stop. This was it. This was when she finally lived her dream. 

_ What if she was wrong? What if it wasn’t everything she wanted and she had essentially blown up her life for nothing but a fantasy.  _

Even focusing on Emma couldn’t calm her down, the sight of the other girl just reminding her of the satchel she had shoved underneath the seat. What would she do when Emma was gone and she didn’t have a dream anymore?

“You okay?” Emma asked, leaning closer, resting her paddle over her lap.

“I’m terrified,” Alyssa said honestly.

“Why?”

“I’ve been looking out my window for eighteen years. Dreaming about this moment,” Alyssa said helplessly. “What if it isn’t everything I dreamed it would be?”

“That isn’t going to happen,” Emma said confidently. After a second of consideration she reached across the boat and put her hand over Alyssa’s. “It’s going to be everything you dreamed it would be.”

“But, what if it is? What do I do then?” Alyssa had never thought this far ahead, and now, the future was terrifying. She had no idea what she was going to do next; her checklist ended here.

“That’s the best part,” Emma insisted. Her eyes sparkled when she smiled playfully, gesturing to the open water surrounding them. “Then you can find a new dream.”

_ A new dream _ . Alyssa liked the sound of that. She turned to Emma, steady, beautiful Emma, who was the only reason she had gotten this far. Before she could say something– what she wasn’t sure– a bit of light caught her eye. She watched in awe as hundreds of other lights floated into the air, rising from the entire city, from the top of the castle to the square they had danced in hours before. 

Wanting to get closer to the display, Alyssa crawled to the front of the boat, carefully tracing the paths of the lights with her eyes. There were different colors and shades, with some golden orange and other emitting soft white light. As time passed, the lanterns drifted closer to the water, falling as their fuel source began to wane. When they got closer, she could see that they were varying shapes, rectangles, ovals, and everything in between. It was even better than she had imagined.

\--------

As soon as the lanterns were set off, Emma knew that she was no longer the center of Alyssa’s attention and probably wouldn’t be until the sky darkened. When Alyssa climbed to the end of the boat, Emma pulled out the lanterns she had bought from Carrie’s mom on her way to rent the boat. The assembly was pretty simple; she just had to separate the top and the bottom to put in the support wires, but she kept getting distracted by the lights.

It wasn’t anywhere close to her first time seeing the display, and she had never been a huge fan of the tradition when she lived at home. She knew exactly what was going on in the castle right now. Every year, the king and queen set off the first lantern adorned with the kingdom’s symbol of the sun, as tradition said that that was how the lantern would find the solstice heir because the sun would know to guide it (how the sun was going to guide anything at  _ night _ Emma never understood, but it did look prettier). As soon as the nobles had launched all of their lanterns, they would go inside and have fancy drinks. That was always when Emma and Greg would sneak out of the castle, watching the final lanterns drop from the sky and sharing whatever desserts they were able to steal from the kitchen. 

Emma finally got both lanterns constructed and lit one of the matches she had stuffed in her pocket earlier, carefully lighting the lanterns before the match could burn her. She nodded to Pascal who had been watching her suspiciously, and he tugged on Alyssa’s sleeve.

“What? I’m trying to– Oh.” Alyssa gasped, returning to her seat across from Emma and carefully taking the lantern that Emma offered. She traced the delicate paper with her finger, running it along the top edges like it was going to disappear if she touched it too hard. 

They let go of the lanterns at the same time, watching them float into the sky. The wind currents must've been weird because as they got higher the lanterns began circling each other like a dance. They weaved back and forth until they eventually got lost in the crowded sky. Their small boat was surrounded by lanterns on every side, and Alyssa was shifting back and forth trying to take it all in. One of the lanterns fell lower than the others, about to fall into the water until Alyssa caught it on her hand. It was a traditional lantern with a purple sun painted on the side, kind of like the one the royal family set off every year. When Alyssa lifted her hand, the lantern flew up again, caught in a wind current. 

In a moment of clarity, it occurred to Emma that she would be perfectly content to stay in this moment for the rest of her life. Sitting in a cheap row boat with lanterns circling her head and Alyssa– beautiful, strong Alyssa– sitting across from her with the biggest smile, it was perfect. Forget the crown and her parents, Emma just wanted this; she wanted to be with Alyssa. She wanted to see the world, see all of the places Alyssa wanted to go. She wanted to wake up every morning with Alyssa at her side; she wanted to sit on the counter and steal food while Alyssa tried to cook. 

She wanted a life with Alyssa.

_ Oh, fuck.  _

_ She’s in love with Alyssa. _

It seemed so obvious in hindsight, and yet, the realization still left Emma breathless, like she had been falling and finally hit the ground. She reached out hesitantly to Alyssa, taking her hand where it was resting on the edge of the boat. When Alyssa looked at Emma, her already happy expression lit up even more, and she not only took Emma’s offered hand, she took the other one too. 

“This is amazing. You’re amazing,” Alyssa said, her attention focused back on Emma despite the fact that the lanterns were still falling. She fidgeted slightly, like she was nervous about whatever she was going to say next. “I was thinking: you kept your promise; it’s time for me to keep mine.” She reached under her seat and pulled out the battered old satchel hesitantly offering it to Emma.

Emma had half a mind to just toss the bag into the water. She and Alyssa could go far away, and someone else could pick up the broken pieces. But that would be wrong, and Alyssa deserved someone who did the right thing. She reached out to touch the fabric, rubbing the familiar texture between her fingers. “I thought the deal was that I had to get you home first?”

_ Had Alyssa changed her mind? Was she trying to make Emma leave? Repay the dues so that they could go their separate ways and never see each other again? _

“Yeah, it is, but I wanted you to have it now.” Alyssa explained. “I trust you.”

“ _ Trust, _ ” Emma has dealt with a lot of things, but trust has never been high on the list. Hell, she had betrayed her only friends in a second (if Shelby and Kaylee could even be called that). She carefully took the bag and set it on the bench next to her so she could take Alyssa’s hands again. “Thank you.” She didn’t elaborate on the statement, too many things to mention all at once. 

“I should’ve done it sooner.” Alyssa shrugged. She seemed pleased by Emma’s reaction, probably glad that Emma hadn’t jumped into the water the second she handed her the satchel.

“Alyssa, I…” Emma trailed off unsure of what she wanted to say. It was too early to talk about love, considering they had only known each other for two days, but she needed to say something. “I like you. A lot.”

“Really? I thought you were just waiting to get rid of me,” Alyssa said. The words were clearly meant to be teasing, but something about the look in her eye, kept Emma from teasing back.

“I would never try to get rid of you.” As soon as she said the words, Emma realized that it was in fact, not an accurate statement. “...again.”

Alyssa snorted. “Well, at least you learned your lesson the first time.”

They sat in a comfortable silence, the last of the lanterns hovering over their heads. Emma isn’t sure who leaned in first, but she found herself inches away from Alyssa’s face. Before her eyes could close, she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye, someone lifting a lantern. Across from her Alyssa’s eyes had closed, so Emma was the only one who saw Kaylee and Shelby step out of the shadows, looking at her pointedly with their weapons drawn. They were gone as quickly as they had come, fading back into the darkness of the forest. 

“Emma?” Alyssa asked, turning around curiously to see the empty space where her old partners had been standing moments before. “Is everything okay?

Emma looked between Alyssa, expression open and beautiful, to where Kaylee and Shelby had stood. All at once she knew what she had to do. She needed to make things right. “Fine. I just…” Emma gestured to the shore and began paddling the boat towards the land, stepping out of the boat as soon as it hit the shoreline. “Everything is fine. I’ll be right back.” Her eyes caught on the satchel, sitting innocently in the boat. Emma was clearly walking into a trap, and she knew Kaylee and Shelby would stop at nothing to get the satchel. If she left it, Alyssa might be at risk, they could lead Emma away then attack Alyssa.

_ This is my problem. If it's a set up, I’m going to be the target. _ Emma grabbed the satchel out of the boat. “I’ll be right back.”

\--------

After a few minutes of weaving along the coast line trying to find Kaylee and Shelby, Emma finally spotted them, leaning against a large rock. She tightened her hold on the satchel hanging over her shoulder and looked back as if to check on Alyssa, despite the fact that she was long out of sight. “Kaylee, Shelby.” Emma nodded at them each in turn and paused once she was a few feet away.

“Well, look who’s come crawling back,” Kaylee said casually, examining her nails. “You here to make things right?”

Shelby scoffed, glaring at Emma. “Yeah, right. I bet she’s here to gloat.”

“I’m here to apologize.” Emma held her back straight and did her best to look her old partners in the eye. “I shouldn’t have lied to you; it was wrong.”

“Ooh, she grew a conscience,” Kaylee said sarcastically. As if they were connected she and Shelby stood up at the same time and began circling Emma. “Don’t suppose the apology comes with any of the payment we were promised.”

Emma resisted the urge to cave under their glare, holding the strap of the satchel hard enough that her knuckles began to turn white. She regretted not bringing the frying pan with her on the boat, it would’ve been nice to have some kind of weapon, even if it was unconventional. “I can’t give you the crown.”

“Figures.” Shelby casually drew her sword, letting it hang at her side so that the fading light from the lanterns reflected off of the side. “So we’re just supposed to sit here and accept your apology just because you feel bad? Write off all of our time and resources as a nice little donation?”

“The crown doesn’t belong to you,” Emma said, unable to shake the guilt. Shelby was right. It wasn’t fair, Emma should’ve been better, should’ve told them the truth right from the start. But she couldn’t change anything now. “I can’t give it to you,” she repeated, the statement more pleading than she wanted it to be. “You need to understand that.”

“I understand a lot of things,” Shelby agreed. With the two of them circling her Emma couldn’t look at both of them at once. Since Shelby had drawn a weapon Emma decided to watch her, spinning slowly with the satchel in hand. “One of those is that when someone betrays you, you get revenge.”

“You don’t have to do this,” Emma said desperately. Without the frying pan she was unarmed and outnumbered, if they decided to attack she would have no way to defend herself. She briefly considered calling for Alyssa, maybe with her powers they could win, but Alyssa had told her before that she had no idea how to control the magic blasts, and if they lost Kaylee and Shelby would have Alyssa as well. It was a risk that Emma couldn’t take. Hopefully if she didn’t come back Alyssa would leave, she could find Greg and they could run away somewhere. “I could pay you back,” Emma tried, her empty pockets saying differently. “I don’t have money right now, but if you give me time, I could get some. I was stupid and I shouldn’t have left you. Let me make up for it.”

“A compelling offer.” Shelby paused in her circling, looking at Shelby over Emma’s shoulder. “What do you think, babe?”

“I think I’ve heard enough of Nolan’s lies to last me a lifetime,” Kaylee decided. “Anyway we know you have something more valuable than the crown.”

“What?” Emma’s blood ran cold and for the first time she wished she had a weapon for something other than self defense.

“How much do you think someone would pay for a girl with magic flowing through her veins? How much do you think the royal family would pay for a potential solstice heir?”

Emma launched herself at Kaylee only to be held back by Shelby’s sword on her neck. “If you even think about touching her–”

“I think we’re done here.” Shelby decided. Before Emma could argue something hard came down on the back of her head. She just had time to think,  _ Fuck, three head injuries in two days, _ before everything went dark.

\-------

Alyssa sat nervously in the boat, shifting her weight back and forth. She resisted the urge to get out of the boat and pace on the beach, not wanting to get close to the dark woods. 

“Where is Emma?” Alyssa muttered to Pascal who just shrugged at her. 

The lanterns had ended a few minutes ago with no more being set off, it was slowly getting darker as more and more of the lanterns burned up the last of their fuel. 

_ Was she okay? Should Alyssa go check on her? She said she would be right back, but that was already a lie. _

_ What if she never comes back? _

Alyssa did her best to stifle the thought, but as more time passed it was getting harder and harder. She trusted Emma; she did, but it was hard to ignore the situation with the darkness boring down on her small patch of light created by an old gas lantern sitting on the floor of the boat. Was her mom right? She gave Emma the satchel and now she was gone, possibly never coming back.

“Would she do that?” She asked, unsurprised by the lack of response.

Pascal chirped to get her attention, but instead of calming her fears he just shrugged, clearly just as lost as Alyssa.

“I thought she liked me.” She could feel the tears creeping up, and with Emma gone there was no reason to hold them back. Alyssa gave herself three minutes to fall apart, letting the tears fall until there was nothing left. She gave herself three minutes to accept the fact that Emma had used her, that it was never actually about love; she was just waiting to get the crown back.

_ I like you. A lot. _ It was all a lie. After all Emma  _ was _ a thief, was it really that surprising that she would add Alyssa’s heart to the list of things she had stolen?

The silence was broken by footsteps and Alyssa eagerly jumped to her feet. Emma had come back. “I was starting to think you got tired of me and ran off with the crown,” Alyssa laughed, eagerly waiting for a sarcastic comment to reassure her. When no one responded she looked closer, only to see the shadow she had identified as Emma break into two.

“She did,” One of the figures announced. As soon as she came into the light Alyssa identified her as one of the criminals who had been chasing them in the canyon. 

“No!” Alyssa exclaimed backing up until her legs hit the boat. “She wouldn’t do that.”

“She already did.” The woman pointed out into the lake where a boat was sailing away from the island. Alyssa could clearly make out Emma’s outline, the back of her head lit by a falling lantern. 

“Emma!” Alyssa shouted desperately. A part of her was still surprised when Emma didn’t even turn to look at her, she would think she deserved at least that. But Emma just kept facing the wheel in front of her, slowly sailing out of Alyssa’s life.

“We leave her alone and let her keep the crown, and she doesn’t have to worry about you following her around anymore.” Suddenly, the criminals were moving, the one with the axe approaching on the left and the other on the right.

“NO!” When Alyssa tried to back up more the edge of the boat tripped her, sending her sprawling on her back, leaving her trapped. 

“Back off.” Suddenly there was someone standing between the criminals and the boat. The figure wore a dark cloak and had a small knife clutched in their hand which they were pointing at Alyssa’s attackers. The women exchanged a look before running off, disappearing back into the darkness of the forest, and the figure turned around to reveal–

“Mom?” Alyssa asked. Mrs. Greene nodded and Alyssa shot to her feet enveloping her mother in a tight hug. “I was so scared. I’m sorry. I should’ve listened to you.”

Mrs. Greene stroked the back of Alyssa’s head and the familiar sensation made her want to sob. “I understand why you didn’t; you were due for a fit of rebellion sooner or later.”

“You mean…” Alyssa lifted her head from Mrs. Greene’s shoulder to look at her questioningly. “You’re not mad?”

“I’m just happy we can forget this entire mess and go home,” Mrs. Greene said, causing Alyssa to tense up.

“When you say go home...” She carefully stepped away from her mother, despite the fact that she wanted nothing more than to stay in her arms forever. “Would I be able to leave? Or would I go back to never setting foot outside.”

“Alyssa, you set foot outside today and you almost died.” Her mother was clearly a bit shocked by the change in topic; she must’ve been expecting Alyssa to go without complaint.

“But I saw so many amazing things.” Sure most of the memories were bogged down by Emma’s betrayal, every moment turned a little bit darker with the knowledge that it was all an act. “I can’t stay in the tower forever.”

“If I hadn’t been here, you would be dead.” Mrs. Greene’s tone was cold, the comforting warmth snuffed out by Alyssa’s refusal.

“But I saw so many amazing things! I made friends!” Alyssa argued, thinking of her time in the bar and the city square.

“Oh, like the one who turned you in?” Mrs. Greene challenged. “How do you know the others aren’t exactly the same?”

“I–” Alyssa paused. Angie and Greg were Emma’s friends. It wouldn’t be surprising to hear that they were in on the plan, maybe they helped her come up with it. Alyssa felt like she was drowning, replaying every conversation in her head. They seemed sincere, but then again, _ Emma _ had seemed sincere, and look how that turned out. “I don’t.”

Mrs. Greene’s voice softened, she could clearly tell that Alyssa was seconds from tears, her vision already going blurry. “Alyssa you need to make a decision. Are you coming home with me?”

Alyssa eyed her mother’s hand, held out like an offering between them. She could refuse, but where would she go? It’s not like she had any friends left. When she had thought of leaving the tower for good, Emma had always been there, showing her the ropes and making her laugh. Now she was alone, stuck making an impossible choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you may have noticed the chapter count went up! there isn't like,,, new plot or anything its just that chapter 12 got really long so i'm going to break it into two chapters to keep it consistent.
> 
> anyway did you like the chapter? have any favorite lines? let me know in the comments!

**Author's Note:**

> so it begins.
> 
> as usual kudos are fun and comments can help trick me into writing faster!
> 
> if you enjoyed this consider checking out my tumblr [@izzy-mccalla](https://izzy-mccalla.tumblr.com/post/640245260538281984/all-at-once-everything-looks-different-by) and reblogging my post about this fic bc knowing tumblr it will not be showing up in the search. thanks for reading!!!


End file.
